Apple, arguably the largest phone and computer manufacturer in the world, isn’t immune to the chip shortage, as it once again reduced the highest memory capacity available for the Mac Studio and Mac Mini. Apple's Mac Studio could be configured with up to 512GB of Unified Memory at launch, which is more than enough for professional usage and local AI applications.

Now, if you visit the Apple Store, you can only purchase the Mac Studio with a maximum of 96GB of Unified Memory, while the Mac mini is only available with up to 48GB (down from 64GB).

Apple's Unified Memory architecture has become popular for running local AI models and agentic AI applications like OpenClaw. When the latter exploded in popularity in early 2026, many AI developers and enthusiasts jumped at the opportunity to acquire a small PC with a very high memory pool. This resulted in a shortage that pushed delivery times from six days to six weeks.

This situation, combined with the global memory chip shortage, has forced Apple to discontinue the 512GB SKU and increase the price of the 256GB upgrade to $2,000 in early March. However, the increase in price did not dissuade buyers, as company chief Tim Cook warned during the company’s latest earnings call that supplies for both the Mac Studio and Mac mini could remain constrained for months.

Despite the increased prices and the removal of higher-capacity versions, delivery times for both the Mac Studio and Mac Mini haven’t improved. The M4 Max Mac Studio with 64GB of Unified Memory can take six to seven weeks to deliver, while all other configurations, including the 36GB and 96GB variants, can take between nine and 10 weeks. Prospective buyers of the M4 Mac mini with 16GB of Unified Memory may fare slightly better, with a three-to-four-week delivery window; this worsens to 10 to 12 weeks if you upgrade the memory to 24GB or 48GB.

We’re also starting to see shortages affect high-capacity MacBooks. While 24GB and lower-capacity MacBook Air laptops are still thankfully readily available, you need to wait about two to three weeks if you want the 32GB version. 48GB versions and up of the MacBook Pro also now entail a wait of one to two weeks, while even the budget MacBook Neo, which became insanely popular among students and entry-level buyers, takes around two to three weeks to deliver.

Cook said during the company’s first earnings call of 2026 that the company is chasing memory supply and that it will have a greater impact on its Q2 earnings. We’re now feeling the brunt of the shortage, as we see Macs, high-capacity MacBooks, and the entry-level MacBook Neo experience extended delivery times. Thankfully, mid-range buyers can still easily acquire the standard iMac, entry-level MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros.

Many people love adding retro accessories to their modern devices to evoke the nostalgia of the ‘80s and ‘90s, while also making them far more useful. One such gadget is the M5 Retro Dock Station from Wokyis, which is available on Amazon for $169.99.

The dock slots neatly onto the M4 Mac Mini and connects via its USB-C port. When installed, it gives you a tiny 5-inch 720p display that you can use as a secondary monitor for various tasks, such as displaying widgets, serving as a digital photo album, playing media, or simply as a desktop clock. More importantly, it comes with an M.2 NVMe slot to expand the storage on your Mac mini with one of the best SSDs on the market — a crucial feature given Apple’s egregious pricing on storage expansion.

The dock actually comes in two flavors — the $169.99 version delivers transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps and offers four USB-A ports, three USB-C ports (although one is for power and the other is required to connect to your Mac), an SD card slot, a microSD card slot, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm jack. The more expensive Thunderbolt 5 version, which costs $339.99, trades the HDMI port for a DisplayPort output and adds an extra USB-C port at the back. This accessory is specifically designed for the Mac mini, but it also works with any other device that supports DisplayPort over USB-C. This includes MacBooks, Windows PCs, Android devices, and even Raspberry Pis.

The Wokyis docking station will put a retro Macintosh on your desk without the hassle of transplanting the innards of a Mac Mini into the body of an iMac G3 or G4. Allowing you to set it up in a matter of minutes, and without risking damaging your computer.

Apple’s Mac Mini has seen a surge in popularity recently, especially as many people are configuring it to run OpenClaw locally. Because of this, we’ve seen a shortage of these computers, with even the cheapest variant now having a delivery window of five to six weeks. Cupertino has even removed the 512GB option for the Mac Studio from the Apple Store, while raising the price of the 256GB upgrade to $2,000.

Despite its size and influence over hardware suppliers, the company cannot escape the ongoing chip crisis, warning that shortages could last for months. But if you already have a Mac Mini on your desk, then perhaps this accessory can distract you from the fact that you’ll probably need to hold on to it for much longer, as upgrading — on both Mac and PC — is becoming more expensive than ever.

Speaking during Apple’s second fiscal quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook warned that supplies of the company’s Mac mini and Mac Studio desktops could remain constrained for months. According to Cook, surging demand driven by artificial intelligence workloads outpaces Apple’s manufacturing capacity.

The surge comes amid growing interest in “local AI,” where models run directly on personal machines rather than on remote cloud servers. Privacy concerns, latency reductions, and rising cloud inference costs have pushed many developers and companies toward on-device AI processing.

Cook’s warning marks one of the clearest signs yet that the AI boom is beginning to reshape the personal computer market in ways that extend beyond traditional GPU manufacturers like Nvidia. The comments also officially confirm our report that some Mac models were facing significant shortages and shipping delays, primarily driven by an "ordering frenzy" for high-memory configurations, spurred by demand to run local AI agents, such as the "OpenClaw" mode.

Apple’s Mac mini and Mac Studio have become particularly attractive for AI development because of the company’s Apple Silicon architecture. Unlike conventional desktop systems that separate CPU and GPU memory, Apple’s unified memory architecture allows AI models to access large pools of shared high-bandwidth memory more efficiently. This makes the systems especially useful for running local large language models, AI agents, and inference workloads.

The higher-end Mac Studio configurations can also be equipped with massive amounts of unified memory, allowing developers to run increasingly large AI models directly on desktop hardware. Combined with relatively low power consumption, the systems have gained popularity among AI developers seeking alternatives to expensive server-grade hardware.

Industry observers have noted rising interest in Apple desktops from AI enthusiasts over the past year. Online developer communities have increasingly discussed using Mac Studio systems for running open-source AI models locally, particularly as demand for high-end AI GPUs continues to strain global supply chains.

Apple’s supply warning also arrives during broader pressure across the semiconductor industry. Advanced chip packaging technologies and high-bandwidth memory production have already been strained by soaring demand for AI infrastructure. Several semiconductor firms have warned of prolonged shortages tied to AI-related manufacturing bottlenecks.

The constraints may also reflect Apple’s growing ambitions in artificial intelligence. The company has been steadily expanding its AI strategy following the introduction of Apple Intelligence across its ecosystem. While Apple has historically emphasized on-device AI processing for privacy and efficiency reasons, the recent surge in demand for its desktop systems could further strengthen its position in the emerging local AI computing market.

The shortages could persist for “several months,” according to Cook, suggesting customers may face extended shipping delays for some Mac mini and Mac Studio configurations.

Mini PCs have gained a following over recent years by bringing the best mobile silicon to the desktop. The mix of processing power, the compact chassis, power efficiency, and portability hits a PC sweet spot for many folks. Here we are looking at Hong Kong-based Minisforum’s update to its well-regarded AI X1 Pro 370 from last year – the new Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470. As given away by the name, this model packs one of the latest AMD Gorgon Point mobile processors.

Specifically, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 is installed in this machine, and the mini PC’s relative charms rely on the enhancements delivered by the AMD Ryzen AI 400 series. Sadly, the latest AMD mobile processors offer merely incremental uplifts, leaving enthusiasts underwhelmed. The CPU boost goes 100 MHz higher, and the NPU performance has been lifted from 50 to 55 TOPS in the latest silicon. Nevertheless, we thought it would be worthwhile to gauge the appeal of the new Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470, and check out the top-end AI 400 series laptop chip in a mini PC.

Design of the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470

The Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 looks and feels well-made, hewn from premium materials, with nicely tactile buttons, and is reassuringly dense. An obvious comparison is against an Apple Mac Mini M4, but at 7.68 inches square and 1.87 inches tall, the Minisforum would be visibly larger than the Apple (5 x 5 x 2 inches), set side by side.

If getting something Mac Mini-sized with an x86 chip is crucial, Minisforum offers the AI X1 (non-Pro) models, which almost exactly match the Mac’s dimensions. These non-Pro models from Minisforum are a bit cheaper, but they have fewer expansion options, ports, and a less potent cooling system.

One of the design features I appreciate about the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 is that it has flexible positioning and mounting options straight from the box. It ships with both a metal VESA mount bracket and fixings, as well as a matching vertical stand. The larger ‘Pro’ models (our test model) also benefit from integrating a 135W PSU, so you only need a common figure-of-8 power lead (supplied) to the wall.

The Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 has a decent selection of modern ports, mostly front and back. It is good to see OCuLink and 2x USB4 among them, and some will appreciate the dual 2.5G LAN ports at the back. I would have wished for more USB-A ports at the back and a rear audio jack, too.

Other design features of note, which might make this stand out from a raft of rivals, are Minisforum’s integration of a Copilot button on the front of the chassis, its responsive Windows Hello-friendly fingerprint sensor on the top of the chassis, and the inclusion of stereo speakers and dual-array microphones under the hood.

Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 Mini PC Specifications

Ports and Connectivity of the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470

While the AI X1 Pro 470 has a wide selection of ports, I’d like more. Having 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10Gbps) ports, a USB4 Type-C (40 Gbps, supports Alt DisplayPort 2.0 & 15W PD out), and a 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack on the front, alongside the power and Copilot buttons, is a good start. To the left side, there is a full-sized SD card slot, with a Kensington Lock on the right.

Round the back there are numerous of ports, including another USB4 Type-C (40 Gbps, supports 100W PD-in to power the PC, Alt DisplayPort 2.0, and 15W PD out), another USB Type-A (but USB 2.0), plus an OCuLink Port, HDMI 2.1 FRL, DisplayPort 2.0, 2x 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45), and an AC inlet (next to a reset / clear CMOS hole).

That sounds like a lot of variety, but just a single slow USB-A around the back is poor. It means I’ll be using a USB-C dock/dongle at the back, so the front system ports can remain ‘clean’ and available for handy occasional peripheral plugging. On the other hand, this little PC can connect up to four 4K screens simultaneously, straight from the box.

Wireless connectivity is decent. A MediaTek MT7925 Wi-FI 7 Card fitted to the motherboard also provides Bluetooth 5.4 with BLE support.

Upgradability of the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470

Before even opening up this device, it is pleasing to see that both OCuLink and USB4 are available for fast docking and eGPU connectivity. Inside, there’s quite a bit of room for upgrades, too – especially for a mini PC.

Minisforum provides three M.2 storage slots. With my 32GB/1TB config, one of the slots already has a 1TB drive installed, specifically a Kingston PCIe Gen4 NVMe drive with HMB caching and QLC NAND. Adequate but nothing fancy, it managed peak read and write speeds of almost 5.7 GB/s and 5.0 GB/s, respectively, in ATTO Disk Benchmark. According to the specs, this mini PC can fit three such drives, maxing out at 12TB total capacity (3x 4TB). Extra fittings and thermal pads are supplied in the box.

This ‘AI mini PC’ can pack up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM, using two SODIMM slots. You can buy it barebones direct from Minisforum or Amazon. We received a 32GB/1TB model for testing. These Ryzen AI 300 and 400 chips can be sensitive to memory bandwidth, especially for tasks that lean on the iGPU, so it was unfortunate that the 32GB here was a single DDR5-5600 module. In a ‘normal’ market, we think Minisforum would have supplied 2x 32GB, or a 2x 16GB option, but this 32GB was supplied with a single SODIMM, which seems to be a by-product of the RAMpocalypse.

Adding or changing RAM or storage requires removing five screws from the bottom of the device (1 short, 4 long), followed by 7 further internal screws marked with triangles. Then lift the PSU with the secondary cooling fan gently, as there are three wired connections to the motherboard. You don’t need to detach these cables; there’s enough clearance to lean this assembly to the side, get in, and reach the RAM and SSD slots.

Productivity and AI Performance on the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470

We tested the Minisforum AI X1 Pro system, and its AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 processor, using the supplied RAM/Storage configuration with Windows 11 pre-installed and the default ‘Balanced’ profile selected in the BIOS. VRAM was set at 8GB in the BIOS.

Taken in isolation, the results look pretty good. However, as I had an Asus Zephyrus G16 with 32GB quad-channel DDR5-7500 RAM at hand (my personal desktop replacement portable), I thought it would be interesting to check the difference between the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Asus laptop, PL1 65W, PL2 70W) and Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (Minisforum mini PC, PL1 60W, PL2 65W).

Due to the aforementioned mini PC RAM configuration, the older-gen, thermally-constrained Asus laptop trounced the new-gen Minisforum challenger. Disappointing. I wanted to see if the Minisforum could fight back if I upgraded it to dual-channel. Luckily, I could source a matching DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM, so I’ve also tabulated those results. Spoiler: the RAM upgrade makes a huge difference, convincingly putting the Gorgon Point processor in the mini PC into pole position most of the time.

Above, you have two popular synthetic CPU benchmarks that concentrate on CPU performance. Then the Procyon AI tests I did looked at AI image generation using the onboard NPU. These results equate to a series of 500x500 pixel AI-generated images being produced from a prompt in Stable Diffusion Lite every 10 or 11s. Last but not least, Handbrake was used to convert a reference 4K/60 HDR nature video to 1080p/30.

Gaming Performance on the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470

What we said about the single-vs-dual channel memory above applies even more in 3D gaming workloads that need to squeeze the best out of the Radeon 890M iGPU. Most readers will know about the theoretical benefits of improved memory bandwidth for Radeon iGPU graphics performance, but seeing, feeling, and measuring it is something else. We can thank the AI industry for opening our eyes to this and moving an extra matching memory module far beyond an impulse purchase.

As I was thinking this Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 would be a good candidate for a living room TV connected media box and 'Steam Machine,' I tested Cyberpunk 2077 using the ‘Steam Deck’ preset at 1080p. The system did pretty well after it was upgraded to dual-channel RAM.

Overall, the gaming frame rates of 50-60fps on the dual-channel RAM-equipped X1 Pro 470 point to it being a pretty decent entertainment box for the living room scenario that I was thinking about. With all these tests done at medium settings (except CP2077), there are still plenty of settings that can be adjusted to achieve an average 60fps at 1080p, if you insist on that.

Bottom Line

During even the most demanding tests, the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470 stayed pleasingly quiet and cool. Running through the benchmarks and stress tests, I didn’t see any processor temperatures rising above the low 70s (Celsius). Moreover, the weighty dual-fan cooling seems to do its job pretty quietly inside the slick metal alloy shell. These are definite advantages over my Zephyrus with Ryzen Ai 9 HX 370.

An unobtrusive fan profile is important to me for long-term use of any PC as a daily driver. I think this system could make the grade, with its idle noise level of 28dBA and highest reading of 32dBA from approximately arms-length away (positioned beside my monitor on the desk).

I’ve enjoyed testing the Minisforum AI X1 Pro 470. It looks good, feels well built, offers flexible mounting and positioning options, and runs cool and quiet. Being able to check it out in dual-channel memory mode also raised my opinion of the device. A decent USB4 dock attached to the rear provides the ports I need, while keeping it tidy, too.

Given the small changes delivered by AMD’s latest mobile chips, bargain hunters might be more interested in the AI X1 Pro 370 from last year, which is still available at $735 barebones, or $1,184 for the 32GB/1TB config. Also, if the AI X1 Pro 470 with 32GB/1TB config we received ($1,379.00 on Amazon) isn’t your little dream machine, the barebones model with HX 470 is just $779. To that, you'd need to add a dual-channel DDR5 SO-DIMM kit, an M.2 SSD, and Windows (or Linux).

A Dutch designer has crafted a 10:1 scale working model of the classic wedge-shaped LEGO computer brick. Paul Staal from Watt IV, shares the idea, the magic, the build, and even a shopping list on his blog post about the project. Inside the scaled-up ‘brick’ is a punchy little Mac Mini M4. Other key components for this build include a 7-inch IPS display and about $20 of PLA filament (with access to a 3D printer required, of course).

Interestingly, the original LEGO brick computer (Part 3039p23), was introduced in 1979, half a decade before the original Apple Macintosh (1984). So the brick surely took design cues from the 1970s, rather than the 1980s, computers. Nevertheless, Staal ties these two iconic designs together in his timeline of influences behind “the upscaling” and creation of the new M2x2 workstation.

Staal shares the process behind the design of the M2x2. He explains it was a challenge to fit “a full M4 Mac Mini, a 7-inch display, and an array of peripherals into a form factor that remains true to the original brick.” Moreover, it is a 10:1 scale replica, but perseverance and attention to detail in Fusion 360 look to have paid off.

We also appreciate that the design’s two LEGO studs on top of the ‘brick’ are functional knobs. One can be turned for media control, like computer volume or track selection, the other includes a wireless charger for charging an Apple Watch or Airpods. “Every detail was considered, from the ‘pocket’ in the back that acts as a handle (a nod to the original Mac) to the fold-out ‘wings’ that manage the power cable with classic elegance,” explains the M2x2 maker.

While the M2x2 is a self-contained computer, no one in 2026 could put up with such a cramped 7-inch screen for long, for anything beyond the basics. Thus, Staal’s daily use of the system is with a spacious LG DualUp monitor, with the 7-inch built-in touch display used “mainly to show my Home Assistant dashboard.” It is also still useful, beside him on the desk, offering front ports to quickly charge devices like his keyboard or phone.

Staal kindly shares plenty of details about making the M2x2, and you can also find the 3D printer .STL files to download.

LEGO and computer tech often intertwine in surprising ways, and we have also seen commercially available computer accessories integrate features for LEGO fans.

Apple announced today that it will begin producing the Mac Mini in Houston, Texas, later this year, marking the first time that the compact desktop has ever been manufactured in the United States.

Production will take place at a new factory on Apple’s existing Houston campus, which already assembles the company’s AI servers and will double the site’s overall footprint. The decision is part of Apple’s $600 billion U.S. manufacturing commitment, announced last year, which came following President Trump’s threats to levy a 25% tariff on Apple products made overseas.

"Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we're proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac mini starting later this year,” CEO Tim Cook said in an Apple Newsroom announcement, which also states that AI server production at the Houston campus had already started ahead of schedule in 2025, with logic boards assembled onsite feeding Apple’s data centers across the country. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, COO Sabih Khan said that Apple “feels more confident” about long-term Mac Mini demand, describing it as more popular than the Mac Pro.

Some production in China and Vietnam will continue alongside the U.S. line, with the Houston facility focused on serving domestic demand as the assembly operation scales up. Apple currently manufactures thousands of Mac Minis per week globally, with roughly one million units sold annually worldwide, representing a fraction of the company’s iPhone volumes, meaning the Houston line represents a modest slice of the company’s overall manufacturing footprint even at full capacity. The Mac Mini currently starts at $599 and is powered by Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro chips.

Apple is also building a 20,000-square-foot Advanced Manufacturing Center at the Houston campus, due to open later this year, offering hands-on training in Apple's production techniques to students, supplier employees, and other U.S. businesses.

In terms of chip supply, the numbers Apple released alongside the Houston announcement show us how aggressively the company has been assembling a domestic semiconductor supply chain. The company said it exceeded its own targets and sourced more than 20 billion U.S.-made chips from 24 factories across 12 states last year, with partners including TSMC, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments. Separately, Amkor broke ground on a $7 billion semiconductor advanced packaging and test facility in Peoria, Arizona, where Apple is expected to be the first and largest customer when it opens.

It’s worth noting that Apple does have a track record for domestic manufacturing. In 2019, Cook toured a Texas facility with Trump that was presented as a new manufacturing site, though the facility had been producing Apple computers since 2013. However, four years later, in 2023, MacRumors reported that the then-new Mac Pro featured a ‘Product of Thailand. Final assembly in the USA’ label which was not seen on previous models, with Apple providing no explanation for the change

Some Apple customers have recently been taken by surprise due to the order lead times on several Mac models with upgraded Unified Memory quotas, which could be largely driven by the immense popularity of OpenClaw, the locally-run open-source AI agent that’s taking the internet by storm and sending users scrambling for Macs to run the AI.

While you can still get base model units of the MacBook Air, iMac, M4 Mac mini, and other basic models on the same day, upgrading memory can now increase delivery wait times by up to three weeks.

However, going for the highest possible memory capacity on high-end models greatly increases your waiting time, with the M3 Ultra Mac Studio with 512GB of Unified Memory taking up to five to six weeks to be delivered.

Alex Finn, founder and CEO of Creator Buddy, linked this shortage in his X post to demand driven by “the world’s first true AI agent" in reference to OpenClaw (previously Clawdbot/Moltbot).

While data centers are hungry for AI GPUs and some startups are using multi-gaming GPU setups to train AI models, they’re not ideal for personal agentic AI run locally. This is especially true if you use a huge 70-billion parameter model in FP16 for your agent, which would require around 140GB of memory just for weights, according to AI investor Ben Pouladian. That means that it wouldn’t fit inside a single RTX 5090 with 32GB of VRAM, and even if you manage to connect five graphics cards for a total of 160GB of memory, you’re still bound by the PCIe bottleneck.

Apple’s Unified Memory architecture fixes that problem. Even though HBM is still way faster than the LPDDR used in Macs and MacBooks, the fact that all the processing units — CPU, GPU, and NPU — share the same memory means that they don’t have to deal with PCIe bottlenecks or require technologies similar to NVLink, which is typically only found on data center class graphics cards.

Because of this, more and more people who want to run their own local AI agent are purchasing high-memory Mac models. This isn’t limited to M3 Ultra Mac Studio units with 512GB of memory. Even Mac minis and MacBook Pros with upgraded memory now have a waiting time of two to three weeks.

We cannot definitively say that these delays are caused entirely by huge numbers of people buying these devices to run their own AI models, as Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that it’s chasing memory supply to meet high customer demand. However, additional pressure from the consumer side will definitely not help with the memory chip shortage that, as of the moment, is primarily driven by AI hyperscalers and institutional buyers.

YouTube and tinkerer Zac Builds has built an M4 iMac using an old iMac G3. Apple released the iMac G3 in 1998, and the device is often seen as one of the things that helped the company stave off bankruptcy in the ‘90s. Aside from that, it had a unique design and was one of its first devices to feature the “i” prefix, making it one of the most iconic Apple products. We can see in the YouTube video that Zac Builds started with an iMac G3 (although not the Bondi Blue version), which he then disassembled. After taking everything apart, he then replaced all the components with modern parts to turn it into an Apple computer you can comfortably use today.

He started by removing all the screws and covers, gingerly dismantling the old computer so he could reuse its frame and outer shell. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on some of the iMac G3’s parts — its speakers are completely gone, and the CRT screen’s bezel crumbled as soon as Zac touched it. Once he completed deconstructing the all-in-one, all that was left was the main motherboard frame and the white translucent case, which serve as the base of the build.

From here, Zac first started by 3D printing the parts needed to reinforce the shell of the old iMac, as many of the components that he took out earlier supplied some of the structural integrity of the computer. With that in place, he vigorously shook the computer to see if it would come apart, and it seems that his additions ensured that none of its parts were going anywhere. He then reused the G3’s power supply, carefully desoldering it from the original motherboard and then mounting it on a spacer to deliver power to the Mac mini that will serve as the brains of this build. This was a relatively simple operation; the original power supply simply worked like a power strip, delivering 120 volts to the internal components of the iMac.

The next step was to install the Mac mini inside the shell of the old G3. Instead of disassembling the modern mini PC, he just mounted it directly inside, trimmed its power supply to fit neatly inside the AIO, and then created a modular power system that will power all the components within the M4 iMac G3 through the original power cable. Since Apple charges an arm and a leg for extra storage, Zac added a dock with a built-in SSD slot to expand the computer’s capacity without paying hundreds of dollars for it.

With the brains of the build in place, he then added a pair of new speakers mounted on 3D printed enclosures to replace the old broken ones. They were then connected to a 200-watt digital amplifier, as the Mac mini’s 3.5 mm audio output is not powerful enough to drive them natively. He then installed it in such a way that the adjustment knobs are still easily accessible through the old RAM access door of the G3.

Of course, Zac had to 3D-print brand-new ports as he could not reach the Mac mini inside the case without removing the screen. He added a Thunderbolt port, a USB-C port, a couple of USB-A ports, and an Ethernet port, ensuring that he still had some of the functionality of the original computer despite being placed in the case. There’s no 3.5mm jack, though, as it’s already in use by the built-in speakers he added to the iMac. So, if he wants personal audio, he’ll have to stick with one of the best wireless gaming headsets.

With everything in place, the YouTuber installed a 14-inch 4K portable monitor with a custom 3D printed interposer that fills in the gap between the rounded front face and the flat display. And with that, we now have a fully working M4 iMac G3. This computer gives anyone who’s ever used the G3 back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s a hit of nostalgia, while remaining usable in modern computing. You can also catch a glimpse of the Mac mini powering the entire thing at the back, along with the clutter of wires that connect it all together. It probably would’ve been nicer if Zac cable-managed the internal spaghetti, but that’s just a minor detail in this certainly interesting build.

Orico, a Chinese tech company specializing in storage solutions, has entered the mini PC market with its Omini line of desktop PCs. According to IT Home [Machine Translated], the company is launching two new models — the Omini Plus and the Omini Pro. The former closely resembles the Mac Mini, while the latter looks like a shrunken Mac Pro, but AMD Ryzen chips power both.

The Pro mini PC uses high-grade aluminum for its PC case and features a “cheese grater” design on the front for optimal airflow. On the other hand, the Plus model has a design similar to the Mac mini, with its components accessible via its removable foot. However, it also has a vent in the back above its ports, reminiscent of the larger Mac Studio.

The Omini Plus is available in a single configuration, powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7535H (now renamed the Ryzen 5 150) paired with 16GB DDR5 memory and a 2TB SSD. It also features a plethora of ports, including two USB4 Type-C ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, two 2.5G Ethernet ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm jack. All this is supported by dual heat pipes and a large fan to keep everything cool, especially as its volume is only about 0.8L. This mini PC is priced at RMB 3,799 (around $535) at the current exchange rate, though it’s available for pre-order at RMB 3,399 ($478).

We also have the Omini Pro, which comes with more options. It starts with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor with an integrated AMD Radeon 780M GPU. Although you can get this as a barebones unit, meaning you’ll have to supply your own memory and storage, it can also be had with a 32GB DDR5 SODIMM kit (upgradable up to 256GB) and a choice between a 1TB and a 2TB SSD. It also comes with two storage slots, with a total capacity of up to 8TB. Aside from the more powerful hardware, you get the same number of ports as above, which is already plentiful. The Omini Pro starts at RMB 3,099 (~$435) for the barebones version, although it’s on pre-order for just RMB 2,699 (around $380).

These devices aren’t designed for gamers specifically, but you can do some casual gaming on the side. Nevertheless, they’re largely good enough for most productivity applications, with the Omini Pro capable of onboard AI processing thanks to its built-in NPU. So, if you want a stylish mini PC that evokes Apple’s aesthetics but works with Windows 11 or Linux, these are great options to check out, provided they become available in your location.

If you're in the market for a new computer, and you would like something that doesn't take up too much space, you may want to consider a mini PC. These are smaller than your average desktop, with an impressively tiny footprint. Today, we've got a deal to share on one of the biggest name brands out there. Apple has its own line of mini PCs known as the Mac Mini range. Right now at Amazon, you can find the 2024 Apple Mac Mini M4 desktop for its lowest price to date — it's currently listed at $499, a full $100 below its recommended price of $599.

This edition features Apple's M4 chip, not to be confused with the M4 Pro, which is a bit more powerful. We had the opportunity to review the Mac Mini M4 Pro last year and loved our experience. For a Mini PC this size, it has plenty to offer, making it a great option for someone that wants a machine oriented for work purposes rather than gaming. It's important to note, however, that we only reviewed the M4 Pro edition, so the performance will differ from the one that's on sale today.

The SoC powering the Apple Mac Mini is an M4 chip. This features a 10-core processor alongside a 10-core GPU. This mini PC lives up to its name with a form factor that measures in at 5 x 5in. Because it's created by Apple, it's easy to integrate the Mac Mini into a family with numerous iDevices. For example, you can access your iPhone from the Mac Mini using "iPhone Mirroring" which lets you not only see what's on your iPhone screen from the computer but also control and interact with it in real time.

To support the M4 chip, the system comes with 16GB of RAM, and there's a 256GB SSD for storage. It has quite an impressive selection of ports, as well, given its size. You get two USB Type-C ports, three Thunderbolt ports, and an HDMI output. For network support, you can take advantage of WiFi 6 wireless connections or use a hard wire with its Ethernet jack. As far as audio support goes, it has a built-in speaker alongside an optional 3.5mm audio jack for connecting external audio peripherals.

If you want to check out this deal, head over to the Apple 2024 M4 Mac Mini desktop product page at Amazon for more details.

The new Mac Studio continues Apple's practice of placing its homegrown Arm-based chips into a workstation chassis far more compact than what we find in its PC counterparts. While you might not immediately be clued into just how powerful Apple's new Mac Studio is by looking at it, don't be fooled. While the previous generation Mac Studio with M2 Ultra was powerful, Apple has dialed up performance even more with this generation.

We don't often test pre-built workstations, but we couldn’t turn down the chance to review two configurations of the new Mac Studio: a lower-end system with the M4 Max and a higher-end configuration with what is currently Apple's most powerful processor, the M3 Ultra.

Apple is aiming the Mac Studio with M4 Max at creative professionals, particularly photographers, video editors, and engineers (among others). The M3 Ultra-equipped variant is equipped to handle more demanding tasks like LLMs and scientific research.

Design of the Mac Studio (2025)

Apple has not changed the design of this year's Mac Studio, which is a good thing. The chassis is 7.7 inches wide, 7.7 inches deep, and 3.7 inches tall. Our M4 Max review unit weighs 6.1 pounds, while our M3 Ultra unit weighs a more substantial 8.0 pounds due to its inclusion of a larger copper heatsink to keep thermals in check.

Although the two systems look identical from the front, some internal differences exist. The M4 Max system has two USB-C ports up front that support 10 GB/s speeds and an SDXC (UHS-II) card slot. The M3 Ultra also has an SDXC card slot, but its two USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 5 at speeds up to 120 Gb/s.

The port allotment on the back of the two systems is identical. You'll find four Thunderbolt 5 ports, two USB-A ports (5 Gb/s), an HDMI 2.1 port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a 10 Gb/s Ethernet port. The Mac Studio has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity. Even though Wi-Fi 7 is becoming more commonplace on high-end PC motherboards, laptops, and desktops, Apple hasn't yet made that shift with the Mac Studio.

Above the rear ports you'll find a large panel with exhaust holes for the internal fan. Cool air is drawn in from the bottom of the unit.

We’ve grown accustomed to Macs not allowing for hardware upgrades post-purchase (with the exception of the Mac Pro's storage). That remains the case with the Mac Studio. CPU, RAM, and storage configurations must be selected at the time of purchase. If you get your Mac Studio home and want to later add more memory, you’re out of luck. Technically, the internal SSD is removable, but Apple’s on-SoC encryption protocols make a DIY change difficult. Some third parties have developed SSD modules that reverse-engineer Apple’s efforts, but that’s a risky proposition for a workstation-grade system that starts at $1,999 and can creep into 5-digit territory with all the trimmings.

Mac Studio Specifications

M3 Ultra and M4 Max Performance on the Mac Studio

The M4 Max is a known quantity; This is the same chip that debuted with the most recent refresh of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Our M4 Max review unit has a 16-core CPU (12 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores), 40-core GPU, 128GB of unified memory, and a 128GB SSD.

The M3 Ultra is the more interesting of the two chips, and not just because it isn’t called the M4 Ultra. Apple’s official response to the lack of an M4 Ultra is that not every generation of its M-Series chip will get an “Ultra” variant. So, that leaves us with the M3 Ultra, which joins together two M3 Max chips (they are joined using what Apple eloquently calls “UltraFusion”). The 184 billion-transistor chip inside our review unit has 32 cores (24 performance cores, 8 efficiency cores) and can be paired with up to 512GB of unified memory (256GB in our review unit) and delivers a maximum of 819 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Apple says that customers opting for the full 512GB allotment can run large language models (LLMs) that have up to 600 billion parameters completely within memory.

Given that our review unit also has a fully-enabled version of the M3 Ultra, it also incorporates 80 GPU cores, up from a maximum of 70 on the previous-generation M2 Ultra. It also has a 32-core neural processing unit (NPU) and a dedicated hardware media engine for H.256, HEVC, and ProRes encoding/decoding.

Joining our M3 Ultra and M4 Max review units in our testing are two PC-centric workstation chips: Intel’s Xeon W9-3495X and AMD’s Threadripper Pro 5995WX. We already had systems built around these processors in-house, so it seemed appropriate to compare them. The Xeon w9-3495X is a 56-core chip with a $5,889 MSRP. The Threadripper Pro 5995WX is a 64-core chip with a suggested retail price of $6,499. Those are before being built into systems, so it's a big difference from Apple, which makes entire PCs, not just chips.

We started our benchmarks with the Geekbench 6.4 CPU test. Here, the M3 Ultra delivered a single-core score of 3,349, putting it well ahead of the M2 Ultra (2,815) and beyond what’s possible with our AMD and Intel workstation systems. Apple’s decision to use two different generations of SoCs in the new Mac Studio shows the first quirk in our testing when it comes to the M4 Max. The M4 Max uses TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process node, along with a new, faster, and more powerful CPU architecture. The M3 Ultra, on the other hand, is using a first-generation 3nm TSMC node.

Geekbench reported that our M3 Ultra ran at 4.05 GHz, while the M4 Max ran at 4.5 GHz. As a result, the M4 Max put up a single-core score of 4,113. Multi-core performance was surprisingly close between the two, despite the M3 Ultra having double the cores. The M3 Ultra scored 27,929 on the multi-core benchmark, while the M4 Max wasn’t too far behind at 26,966.

Our file transfer test involves copying 25GB of mixed media files. The M3 Ultra finished the task, recording 2,685 MBps along the way, while the M4 Max hit 2,441 MBps, essentially tying the result of the last M2 Ultra Mac Studio that we tested.

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra really stretched its legs in our Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p. The M3 Ultra completed the task in just one minute and 16 seconds compared to one minute and 56 seconds for the M4 Max. The Mac Studio with M2 Ultra finished in 2:45. The Xeon and Threadripper systems finished the transcode in roughly 2:40.

Moving on to the Xcode benchmark, which we use for simulating a large development project, the M3 Ultra finished in 64 seconds, which was an oddity compared to the M2 Ultra, which took just 58 seconds. The M4 Max completed the task in 79 seconds.

Using Cinebench 2024 we stress tested the M3 Ultra and M4 Max over ten runs in the multi-core benchmark. The M3 Ultra started the test just under 3,000, but remained consistently between 3,000 and 3,100 through the subsequent runs. The M4 Max, on the other hand, hovered between 2,050 and 2,100. We also use Cinebench 2024 to measure CPU temperatures, and TG Pro is our go-to macOS utility for measuring this data. TG Pro doesn’t fully support the M3 Ultra yet, but showed a system temperature of 43 degrees Celsius, while the M4 Max measured 42 degrees Celsius.

We use the Blender benchmark for testing performance applying visual effects and 3D modelling. We tested the CPU and GPU on the Mac Studio systems, while only the CPU was tested on the Xeon and Threadripper systems. While the M3 Ultra put up a valiant fight in Monster (339.9 samples per second), it was still no match for the core-packed Xeon (446.67) and Threadripper (485.33). The M4 Max was further behind at 240.52. It was a similar story in Junkshop, where the M3 Ultra and M4 Max recorded 243.2 and 153.9, respectively, compared to 302 and 350 for the Xeon and Threadripper. Finally, the Classroom test (173.3 for the M3 Ultra, 104.28 for the M4 Max) chalked up another win for the x86-64 stalwarts (212.33 for the Xeon, 230 for the Threadripper).

However, the M3 Ultra had the last laugh when switching to the GPU testing where it absolutely clobbered the competition. The M3 Ultra hit 3,246.45 samples per second in Monster, 1,581.17 in Junkshop and 1,643.26 in Classroom. The M4 Max also had a strong showing at 2,344.09, 1,271.57, and 1,234.93, respectively.

To test the gaming acumen of the new Mac Studios, I opted to try Resident Evil Village. I tested both systems with a 49-inch Philips Evnia 8000 DQHD 240 Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor. The game looked absolutely brilliant with all detail settings maxed out and with MetalFX upscaling turned on. I saw around 100 fps on the M3 Studio and around 80 fps on the M4 Max at 5120 x 1440.

My daily driver is a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro processor and 36GB of RAM. Either variant of the Mac Studio was overkill for my daily needs. I was never left wanting for more performance while gaming, editing photos in Pixelmator Pro (now an Apple app), or editing videos of my kids.

Software and Warranty on the Mac Studio

The new Mac Studio ships with macOS Sequoia 15.3.1, and required no additional OS or security updates out of the box (though by the time you get one, your mileage may vary). This is the latest version of the operating system that we first visited in our review of the 14-inch MacBook Pro in late 2024. Apple hasn’t given macOS a significant design overhaul in many years, and most of the updates to the operating system have been iterative and mostly fly under the radar.

The biggest addition to Sequoia is Apple Intelligence, which makes better use of context clues to find information in your treasure trove of digital data. Apple Intelligence also means that Siri is no longer dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to answering complex (and sometimes, rather basic) queries thanks to integration with ChatGPT. However, a fully rebuilt Siri is still way off in the distance for Mac users. Continuity updates mean that you can now mirror your iPhone on your macOS desktop using iPhone Mirroring, and you can drag and drop files and media between your Mac and iPhone. There are also quality of life improvements to Apple’s pack-in apps like Safari, Mail, and Messages.

There's no egregious bloat among the included software. Apple’s usual array of programs that are preinstalled include Safari, Maps, Notes, FaceTime, Mail, and Calendar. Apple also wants to lure you in on the recurring revenue train with its popular services like Apple Music and Apple TV. All of Apple’s apps, and a significant segment of third-party apps natively support Apple Silicon. After all, Apple first made the shift to its in-house chip designs in late 2020. For developers that haven’t yet gotten onboard the Apple Silicon train, Rosetta 2 serves as a translation layer between older apps designed for x86 software. When you first start an x86, Rosetta 2 automatically downloads from Apple to ensure that the app runs flawlessly.

All Mac Studios ship with a one-year warranty. If you’d like to add AppleCare+ coverage (Apple’s extended warranty), which in my opinion seems a little unnecessary for a desktop system, Apple charges $59.99/year.

Mac Studio Configurations

The base Mac Studio costs $1,999, which gets you an M4 Max processor with 14 CPU cores and a 32-core GPU. 36GB of unified memory comes standard, as is a 512GB SSD. Our M4 Max review unit was configured with the 16-core CPU/40-core GPU variant of the M4 Max, 128GB of unified memory, and a 1TB SSD, which retails for $3,699.

Our M3 Ultra review unit came with a 32-core CPU and 80-core GPU. Add in 256GB of unified memory and a 4TB SSD pushes the price to an eye-watering $8,099. If you have an itch for the M3 Ultra but want to save a few bucks, you can go with a smaller SSD, less memory, or opt for the 28-core CPU/60-core GPU version. The base M3 Ultra with the 28-core CPU/60-core GPU, 96GB of unified memory, and a 1TB SSD costs $3,999.

If you want to fully max out the M3 Ultra version of the Mac Studio, opting for 512GB of unified memory and a 16TB SSD brings the grand total to $14,099. You don’t get a mouse/trackpad or keyboard in the box, so be sure to source those as well if you’re speccing out a new system.

Bottom Line

The Mac Studio is a fascinating product. For less than the cost of just a Xeon or Threadripper workstation processor, you can get a fully-functioning macOS machine with some serious horsepower under the hood. The M3 Ultra dominated most of our CPU tests, except for the single-threaded Geekbench test that favored the M4 Max, and the Blender CPU tests which favored the Xeon and the Threadripper with their huge advantage in core counts.

The M3 Studio blew through our Handbrake transcode test in record time, aced our file transfer test, and held its own on the Blender CPU benchmark tests against the Intel and AMD competition. However, when we switched to the GPU in the Blender tests, the Mac Studio blew the doors off the competition, with the M4 Max trailing not too far behind.

The new Mac Studios achieves these feats silently, as even under full load, I could only hear the dual internal fans if my ear was up against the exhaust vent. But for all its plusses, the Mac Studio still has some downsides. There’s no way to upgrade your memory or SSD after purchase, so you’ll need to forecast what your needs will be a few years down the road regarding hardware resources. Also, memory and SSD upgrade prices are far pricier than what you find on the PC side.

But if you’re firmly in the Apple camp, or even a PC stalwart that doesn’t mind expanding his or her horizons to the macOS realm, the Mac Studio remains a compelling choice in a compact package.

Earlier today, watchful eyes spotted some key updates to the SteamDB listing for CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 which corresponded to a MacOS executable and depots being added to the game. The update is roughly in line with the "early 2025" timeframe given by CDPR on the MacOS Cyberpunk 2077 release [h/t Notebookcheck.net]. At the time of writing, we have yet to see any footage of the MacOS port running, but it has been promised to also support ray tracing on Mac models that actually support the functionality, namely Apple Silicon M4 Mac Minis and M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max-based Macs.

So, how well should we expect Cyberpunk 2077 to perform on Mac? With hacky workaround methods, modern Macs can already run the game at a consistent-ish 40+ FPS, but not with ray tracing enabled. With the native port, which is already stated to provide ray tracing support, 60 FPS performance should be totally possible... but with RT enabled? Well, things start getting a little dubious there.

As an example, another recent game with Ray Tracing support, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, also got a native MacOS port with ray tracing functionality intact in the past year. Benchmarking that game with ray tracing enabled does show that playable AAA experiences with ray tracing are indeed possible on the Mac platform, but Rift Apart also isn't going to push ray tracing hardware nearly as hard as Cyberpunk 2077 can in its "RT Overdrive Mode".

Based on existing performance information on recent Macs, it would seem likely that the Cyberpunk 2077 MacOS port will perform perfectly fine without ray tracing enabled, likely be capped to 30-40 FPS with some ray tracing enabled, and most likely be overtly unplayable with current-gen hardware when RT Overdrive is enabled. It will likely take at least a few generations for Apple's own native silicon to be able to provide RT hardware that can actually push Cyberpunk 2077 to its upper limits of fidelity (consider how expensive such a feat remains even on PC, with the Best Gaming GPUs available to you), but even having the game playable on the platform in the interim should serve as a great benchmark for Mac gaming for quite some time to come.

Apple set a new benchmark for mini-PCs with its latest Mac mini M4. However, if you prefer different PC hardware and a Windows (or Linux) operating system, then the Nvisen GX06 might be for you. This Chinese mini-PC draws heavy inspiration from Apple’s newest compact PC, offering a similar aesthetic, but with more extensive connectivity options and the flexibility of x86 hardware.

While the overall design closely mirrors the Mac mini M4, there are a few key differences. For example, the power button is positioned on the front, unlike the Mac mini, where the power button is awkwardly placed on the bottom of the chassis, requiring the PC to be lifted to press it. It also comes in a darker hue and all of the ports are located on the rear. The new Wintel device measures 203 x 203 millimeters and stands 53 millimeters tall, making it incredibly compact and easy to fit into any workspace. It even features a raised bottom just like the Mac mini, to enhance airflow and cooling. Sadly, the listing does not give any details of the cooling solution.

Moving to the internals, the Nvisen GX06 is equipped with an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, a slightly older but formidable chip featuring 14 cores, 20 threads, and a boost clock speed of 5.0 GHz. It also features an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU with 6GB of VRAM allowing the mini-PC to handle light to moderate gaming and demanding applications like video editing. Additionally, it features 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1 TB M.2 SSD.

In terms of connectivity, the GX06 is well-equipped for its size. It offers one HDMI 2.1 port, two DisplayPort 1.4 outputs, and four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports. Additionally, two Gigabit Ethernet ports are available for wired connections, along with separate microphone and headset jacks. For wireless connectivity, the GX06 supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6.

The GX06 ships with a 210-watt power supply, which should be adequate to power the components. It’s available for purchase on the Chinese e-commerce platform Banggood (linked top) for around $820, which seems rather pricey... Moreover, buyers should be aware of potential import fees, especially for shipments to the U.S., where customs charges may apply for orders like this. We also found that the specifications listed are slightly different from the actual product shown in the pictures, so we highly recommend that you proceed with caution.

Apple has updated its smallest Mac in a big way today, by shrinking the desktop down to 5 x 5 inches while stepping up to its latest M4 and even M4 Pro silicon, which should make it quite the powerhouse for content creators with desk space constraints.

The company has also taken one step forward and one step back in usability over style, by adding ports to the front  (two USB-C and an audio jack) as well as the back of the device (three Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, and the power cable plug). The M4 Pro model steps up connectivity to Thunderbolt 5 – a first for Apple. But, in a move oddly reminiscent of the charging port placement of its Magic Mouse, Apple has moved the Mac Mini's power button to the bottom of the PC. Given how good sleep states are these days, it's unclear how much this will matter in terms of usability, but it's still an odd choice.

For those interested in AI, the new Mini of course includes the M4's Neural Engine and, on the M4 Pro, model up to 64GB of unified memory, with Apple claiming up to 273GB/s of memory bandwidth, which the company touts as "twice as much bandwidth as any AI PC chip" – an obvious jab at Microsoft's Copilot+ PC initiative.

Pricing starts reasonably enough, with the 10-core (and 10 GPU core) M4 Mac Mini starting at $599, with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Like the iMac announced yesterday, the new Mac Mini has moved up from a base of 8GB of RAM. This is great for general use, but is also likely there to provide room for the new Apple Intelligence features that came as yesterday's macOS Sequoia 15.1 update. Going up in storage or memory will cost you the Apple-typical $200 per step. And you can go from Gigabit to 10-Gigabit Ethernet for an extra $100. $999 will get you 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

And the powerhouse M4 Pro model, with 12 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores, plus 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD starts at $1,399. From there, opting for the top-end 14-core M4 Pro costs an extra $200, and maxing out the storage (8TB at $2,400 extra) and RAM (64GB at $600 extra) takes you to an eye-watering $4,399 – or $4,499 if you also opt for 10GB Ethernet. That gets you firmly into Mac Studio territory, though that pro machine hasn't been updated since it was released with M2 Max and M2 Ultra.

Images of the cooling show that air comes in through the bottom, similar to the Mac Studio. There appear to be two boards for components, with some sort of connection. It's a tight fit that allows for the surprisingly small

Apple also says that it's the Carbon Neutral Mac, following the lead of the Apple Watch Series 9 and 10. Recycled components include the aluminum chassis, recycled gold plating in the motherboards, and rare elements in magnets. Unlike the iMac, the Mac Mini doesn't come with peripherals, so you'll have to bring your own keyboard and mouse.

The Mac Mini is available for pre-order now and will be generally available on November 8. 

Microsoft recently set the standard for modern laptops when it launched its Microsoft Copilot+ PCs. Aside from the 40 TOPS minimum of AI compute performance, the company said that these machines also need a minimum default 16GB RAM. Thus, manufacturers that want to get on the AI bandwagon are now putting 16GB as the minimum RAM for their laptops.

This drive is pushing up the average RAM capacity in laptops in the market. According to market research firm TrendForce, laptops will have an average of 11.8GB RAM in 2024, compared to 10.5GB last year. Although the growth may seem small at just 1.3GB, this is a 12% increase in memory capacity. Furthermore, the firm estimates that AI PCs, with its 16GB minimum requirement, will grow to 20.4% this year, further pushing the average laptop RAM capacity to 12.6GB next year.

However, this growth is held back to some degree by Apple’s stubbornness. Most of its entry-level offerings, including the M3 MacBook Pro and Mac Mini still start with 8GB RAM, and upgrading models to 16GB will set you back by $200 — more than double the price of individual RAM sticks you can find on Amazon. Unfortunately, since RAM is baked in on Apple-silicon chips, you have no way of upgrading your laptop down the line or even buying from a third-party source to double your MacBook’s RAM at the onset.

Apple claims that the M3 MacBook Pro’s 8GB RAM is equal to 16GB on PCs. While it’s true that macOS is much more optimized for its hardware than Windows will ever be, benchmarks have shown that 8GB of RAM seriously limits the MacBook Pro’s performance. Furthermore, we must remember that Apple uses unified memory, meaning the CPU, GPU, and NPU all share from the same pool of RAM, unlike Windows laptops with discrete GPUs that have separate RAM and VRAM.

We’ve been saying since 2022 that you shouldn’t buy a PC with just 8GB of RAM, unless you plan to upgrade it immediately. Even May’s Steam Survey results show that the majority of gamers have 16GB of RAM, but many are already inching toward 32GB. So, if you still have 8GB RAM on your desktop computer, consider upgrading to 16 or 32GB by checking out our best gaming RAM list for 2024.

Aside from greater RAM capacity, demand for higher-efficiency computing is also rising. In line with this, the firm expected LPCAMM2 modules to have greater demand in the coming years. Samsung already released a 128GB DDR5 laptop module last year, and Crucial also made 64GB LPCAMM2 in May 2024. These memory modules are still expensive, though, with the latter price at $330 per piece. However, as adoption rates for these RAM kits increase, we expect their prices to also fall.

These higher RAM trends show that 8GB is no longer enough for modern-day computing, and manufacturers should start using 16GB as the baseline minimum for laptops. Even flagship smartphones like the Samsung S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 8 Pro start with 12GB RAM, so if you don’t want to get frustrated with your laptop for your day-to-day tasks, check how much RAM it’s offering before buying it.

According to Apple's FY23 earnings call, sales of Apple's desktop and laptop computers were down 34% year-over-year in Q4 FY2023. Q4 of FY2022 was the most successful quarter for Macs ever, but this represents the fourth consecutive quarter of YoY declines for Macs. Apple remains optimistic about the future of its PCs as its M3-based lineup looks more competitive (and generally more expensive) than the previous-generation M2-powered family.

Sales of Macs and iPhones Disappoint

Sales of Macs totaled $7.614 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 and $29.357 billion for the whole, year, down nearly 34% and 27% year-over-year, respectively. While the declines look dramatic, fiscal 2022 was a record year for Macs in general as the company sold huge amounts of its high-performance M1 Pro and M1 Max-based MacBook Pro notebooks and Mac Studio desktops. Meanwhile, the company faced major shipments constraints in Q3 FY2022, which is why Q4 FY2022 was the record quarter for Macs ever.  

"In Mac, revenue came in at $7.6 billion, down 34% year-over-year from the prior year's record quarter," said Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, at the earnings call with financial analysts and investors (via SeekingAlpha). "This was due to challenging market conditions, as well as difficult compares against the supply disruptions and subsequent demand recapture we experienced a year ago." 

While comparison with Q4 FY2022 may be a bit off, there is another reason why sales of Macs decline: owners of Apple's PCs who wanted to get an Apple Silicon-based machine have already got one. Given that their M1-based desktops and notebooks are three years old at most, Q3 of calendar 2023 was not their time for an upgrade given mediocre performance difference between M1 and M2-series processors. Apple admits that only half of the Macs last quarter were bought by Mac owners, the rest of sales came from people who were new Apple customers.

"We have great confidence in our Mac line-up and are excited about the recently announced iMac and MacBook Pro powered by our M3 chips," said Cook. "Our installed base is at an all-time high and half of Mac buyers during the quarter were new to the product, driven by MacBook Air." 

Apple's iPad brought in $6.4 billion in revenue in Q4 FY2023, marking a 10% decrease compared to the same period last year. This downturn mirrors the situation seen with Mac sales in Q4 FY2022. Just like Macs, iPads were significantly impacted by supply chain disruptions in the June quarter, which led to an unusual spike in demand in the following September quarter as the pent-up demand was met.

But iPhones and Services Prosper

Apple's iPhone revenue saw an increase in Q4 FY2023, reaching $43.8 billion, a rise from the previous year's $42.6 billion. However, looking at the annual figures, iPhone revenue experienced a decline, falling to $200.6 billion from $205.5 billion the year before. 

While Apple's hardware business was a mixed bag both for Q4 FY2023 and for the whole year, the company's Services business thrived as the company's install base increased to two billion active devices. Revenue from services hit an record high, reaching $22.3 billion in Q4 FY2023 (up a 16% from Q2 FY2022) and 85.2 billion in FY2023 (up 9% from FY2022).

As Apple Increases R&D Spending to $30 Billion

Being the world's largest supplier of consumer electronics by revenue and the world's most valuable public company is a hard job. You not only need to meet customer's expectations, but also exceed those of investors. While Apple generally produces competitive and user-friendly products, it cannot force its customers to upgrade if subsequent models are moderately better than those on the market, especially amid economic downturn. Which is why some may consider Apple's results disappointing.  

But Apple still makes tons of money. The company earned $89.5 billion in Q4 FY2023 and $383.285 billion for the whole year. Despite lower sales, the company upped its research and development spending form $26.251 billion in FY2022 to $29.915 billion in FY2023, which makes the company one of the largest R&D spenders in the world.

Apple's A17 processor was the first chip to use TSMC's N3 (3nm-class) process technology, and this week, the company expanded its N3 lineup with a family of PC-oriented M3 chips for desktop and laptop computers. Analyst Jay Goldberg from Digits to Dollars believes the company spent as much as $1 billion on M3's design and tape-outs alone.

"We have to assume that [M3-series] tape out costs alone for the three [SoCs] has to be close to $1 billion," Goldberg wrote. "Very few companies can afford this large an undertaking."

Apple's M3 family consists of three fairly complex CPUs for now: the 25-billion-transistor M3 that's aimed at entry-level and mainstream desktops, laptops, and high-end tablets; the 37-billion-transistor M3 Pro for performance-mainstream machines; and the M3 Max that packs 92 billion transistors for high-end laptops and entry-level workstations. Each chip is designed to address different computing needs, from everyday tasks to professional coding, heavy engineering simulations, and video production.

Apple's vanilla M3, which comes with eight general-purpose cores and a new built-in GPU, is as complex as AMD's highly praised Phoenix processor (25 billion vs. 25.4 billion), whereas the M3 Pro and M3 Max are considerably more complex.

In fact, with 92 billion MOSFETs inside, the M3 Max is the most complex single-die processor released to date (though, based on what we know about some of the upcoming AI processors, not for long).

Apple used TSMC's N3 fabrication process to increase the economic efficiency of its M3 family, a risky move because the technology is relatively new -- but it looks like it has paid off. As chip detective @Frederic_Orange pointed out, Apple could presumably fit as many as 415 M3 dies on a single 300-mm wafer, which indicates a die size of around 146 mm^2.

By contrast, AMD's Phoenix (which has a similar complexity) has a die size of 178 mm^2. We can only guess whether Apple's M3 is cheaper to make than AMD's Phoenix based on rumors about TSMC's quotes, but smaller chips are typically easier to yield and produce. 

Apple spent $26.251 billion on R&D in 2022, and a significant part of this spending was assigned to chip design. The scale of investment in silicon, in general, and the M3-series SoCs, in particular, indicates that Apple is one of the few companies with the economic capability to undertake such development endeavors. 

Developing complex PC-oriented processors requires extended development cycles, often on the order of years, and intense capital investment. When it comes to an all-new platform — such as the Apple M3 family — the cost of development is staggering, particularly in Apple's case since the company tends to develop as much IP internally as possible. With M3, Apple not only uses its own custom general-purpose cores based on an Arm instruction set architecture but also packs an all-new GPU architecture supporting hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shaders, a new AI NPU, and a new multimedia engine.

When Apple introduced its M3 family of processors this week, it mentioned its GPU Dynamic Caching technology as one of the key advantages of its GPU architecture that allowed it to bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing to its M-series SoCs. Indeed, it looks like Apple has spent years developing this technology and filed the first patent that covers it in early 2020. 

Traditional GPUs operate on static caching mechanisms and fixed memory spaces which sometimes results in inefficient management and retrieval of page table information, underutilization of certain physical memory regions, and limitations of allocated memory for certain workloads. Apple's GPU Dynamic Caching ensures that cache and memory spaces are dynamically assigned based on the actual needs of different tasks and workloads. This adaptability ensures optimized memory usage, preventing wastage of memory resources and allowing tasks to access the memory they need (assuming that there is enough memory for a given task).

Dynamic caching and on-demand memory allocation can significantly benefit things like hardware ray tracing. Ray tracing is a computationally intensive rendering technique that simulates physical behavior of light to generate images. Given the complexity and variability of ray tracing computations, having the flexibility to allocate memory as needed and speed up access to frequently used data can significantly improve performance. What is also crucial for Apple is that its technology also allows to improve performance efficiency and in some cases reduce memory consumption, both of which are important considerations.

In addition to ray tracing, dynamic caching and on-demand memory allocation can benefit memory bandwidth-hungry graphics applications in general, so the technology possibly plays a role in improved performance of Apple M3's GPUs too. Meanwhile, mesh shading also plays a significant role in improving overall performance of Apple's new GPUs.

Apple is poised to refresh its Mac lineup in an upcoming online-only event called 'Scary Fast,' with a focus on introducing new MacBook Pros and iMacs equipped with the latest M3-series processors, reports Bloomberg. The 'Scary Fast' description of the event might indicate that we will be dealing with high-performance M3 Pro and M3 Max processors produced on one of TSMC's N3 process technologies.

In the spotlight are the anticipated MacBook Pros, which are set to undergo significant internal enhancements. These new models are projected to house the advanced M3 Pro and M3 Max processors, marking a rather substantial leap from the previous M2-series. The processors have undergone a rigorous upgrade and gained both general-purpose cores and graphics clusters, as shown in the table.

The iMac is also reportedly slated for an update, marking its first in over 900 days. While the external design is expected to retain its current aesthetics, the internals will see a revamp. The new models are predicted to feature Apple's M3 chip, coupled with improved GPU configurations and a transition to USB-C connectors, signifying a modernization of the iMac’s architecture.

Notably, according to the Bloomberg report, the event holds additional significance as it aligns with the recovery of the personal computing market from the post-pandemic-induced slump. 

Apple's unveiling is also timed to capitalize on the holiday season, a critical period for boosting sales. The company aims to leverage its new offerings to boost sales after declining sales in previous quarters. The refreshed Mac lineup could play a crucial role in driving a resurgence in Apple's Mac revenue streams, supporting its generally high financial performance driven by iPhones.

In addition to the seemingly imminent unveilings, Apple is reported to have a pipeline of future releases, including new MacBook Airs and updated iPads. However, these products are earmarked for launch in subsequent events, extending into 2024 and beyond, indicating a sustained strategy of innovation and product enhancement in Apple's roadmap, according to Bloomberg.

Being one of the founders of Arm, Apple has always had a longstanding relationship with the CPU design company, and its own custom Arm-based SoCs power its smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other electronics. Recently, the two companies extended their license agreement by almost 20 years, till 2040, which is an extremely long period for the high-tech industry. 

"We have entered into a new long-term agreement with Apple that extends beyond 2040, continuing our longstanding relationship of collaboration with Apple and Apple's access to the Arm architecture," a statement by Arm reads.

Apple offers a wide range of products spanning various categories, including high-end devices such as Mac desktops and MacBook laptops, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV set-top boxes, all of which rely on custom system-on-chips (SoCs) built around specially tailored Arm cores. Furthermore, gadgets like the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Homepod Mini are equipped with system-in-packages (SiPs) that harness Arm technologies too. Apple also incorporates Arm cores in its controllers, such as the T2, W3, U1, and others. In short, all of the products carrying an Apple logo also happen to carry multiple Arm cores. 

Signing a long-term license that spans over 15 years before Arm goes public later this year is certainly Apple's vote of confidence in Arm's technologies. While Arm has hundreds of clients, many of them are industry behemoths like Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Samsung, it doesn't look like the company has disclosed similar long-term licensing deals with any of them.

Although virtually all of Apple's products rely on the Arm instruction set architecture today, the company has been exploring the RISC-V ISA since at least mid-2021, so the consumer electronics giant is certainly not putting its eggs into one basket. There are many reasons why Apple is interested in RISC-V beyond risk management. Since RISC-V is an open-source ISA, it can be innovated quickly and without informing its original inventors. As a result, if Apple wants to introduce something brand-new and cannot wait for Arm to innovate its ISA, it will have to turn to RISC-V instead.

In addition to licensing Arm's ISA, Apple will also be one of the anchor investors in the upcoming Arm IPO.

When it comes to creative solutions, no one’s better up to the task than maker and developer Ivan Kuleshov. Whether he’s hacking a Mac Mini to use PoE or developing the new soon-to-be-released Compute Blade module, Kuleshov’s creative juice is in no short supply. Today we’re sharing another project of his shared to Twitter/X, this time a medley of both Raspberry Pi and Mac Minis. Kuleshov ran into an issue recently in which a rack of 16 Mac Minis needed to be manually powered on. His solution? Use a Pi to flip the physical switches, of course!

The Pi is connected to 8 individual servo motors that are responsible for activating the power switch on two Mac Minis a piece. The Raspberry Pi is fitted with a PiKVM HAT so it does more than just power on the Mac Minis. This also meant that developing a custom case was necessary to support the additional hardware.

This project is more than just a proof of concept. We spoke with Kuleshov who confirmed the setup has successfully been implemented in a professional setting. His team works in a data center that has three shelves of Mac Minis and this Raspberry Pi rig is able to power them on using the system of servos.

The Raspberry Pi has a couple of HATs and extra hardware that required Kuleshov’s cool case design. It fits the Raspberry Pi, a PiKVM HAT, a Servo HAT and an OLED screen. A heatsink and fan were included to cool the unit, as well. The outer housing is also fitted with LEGO-compatible studs so you can attach your favorite LEGO pieces—his team chose a Stormtrooper figure.

The software involves a custom UI that Kuleshov put together that makes it easier to operate the PiKVM features and servos. Python was used to program the servos while some bash scripts enable it to interact with a separate KVM switch.

To get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, check out the original post shared by Ivan Kuleshov. You can also follow him at Twitter/X or Instagram to keep an eye out for future creations as well as any updates on this one.

Apple's M3-series system-on-chips is expected to get a major performance upgrade compared to predecessors since they are projected to be made on TSMC's N3 (3 nm-class) fabrication processor and use all-new CPU and GPU microarchitectures. Indeed, the highest-end M3 Ultra will feature 32 CPU cores and an 80-cluster GPU, but the entry-level M3 will retain eight cores, a Bloomberg report suggests.

M3: Up to Eight Cores

Apple's vanilla M1 and M2 SoCs are used for Mac Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13, and iMac systems, which are quite popular. The company's upcoming M3 ix expected to retain eight general-purpose cores (four high-performance and four energy-efficient cores) and an integrated GPU with up to 10 clusters. The first systems on their base are expected to hit the market earlier this year. 

Apple's M3 will reportedly be the first SoCs from the company's third-generation PC processors and will also be the developers N3 chip designed for desktops and laptops. Apparently, the company decided not to increase core count in this SoC compared to M2, perhaps because it wanted to ensure the lowest possible power consumption or was sure that architectural advantages coupled with higher clocks will ensure a noticeable performance boost, or just wanted to maximize yields and keep costs down.

M3 Pro: Up to 14 Cores

The situation will get substantially better with M3 Pro that is projected to get 14 general-purpose cores (eight performance cores, six efficiency cores) in its top-end configuration, but its range-topping GPU will get 20 clusters, up from 19 clusters in M2 Pro. The M3 Pro in its maximum configuration will be more powerful than M2 Max in general-purpose workloads, but the latter will still have an edge in graphics applications.

Apple's M3 Pro and M3 Max-based machine will likely hit the market sometimes in 2024.

M3 Max: Up to 16 cores

When it comes to M3 Max SoC, it is rumored to get 16 general purpose cores (12 performance cores and four energy-efficient cores) as well as up to 40 GPU clusters. Getting four additional high-performance cores is a big deal and will certainly bring substantial benefits to demanding software that M3 Max is architected to run. These will likely end up in high end MacBook Pros, the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

M3 Ultra Up to 32 Cores

Meanwhile, the M3 Ultra system-in-package consisting of two M3 Max chips will therefore get 32 CPU cores and up to 80 GPU clusters. While 32 cores sounds quite massive when we talk about desktops, workstation-grade processors from AMD and Intel already have 56 – 64 cores and it remains to be seen what they are going to offer when Apple's M3 Ultra-based Mac Studio or Mac Pro systems are available in the second half of 2024. 

While Bloomberg's Mark Gurman tends to be accurate with his reports about future Apple's products, he is still an unofficial source and information from him should be taken with a grain of salt.

Leaked information about another new Mac under test at the Apple Campus has been published by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In his regular Apple-focused newsletter, Gurman claims he has new information about the base-level Apple Silicon M3 chip. Thr technology reporter asserted that this SoC would feature eight CPU cores, ten GPU cores, and 24 GB RAM.

Gurman reckons the newly uncovered base configuration M3 chip being tested at Apple’s HQ resides within a soon-to-be refreshed Mac Mini. Its eight CPU cores are split evenly between performance and efficiency cores (so, 4P + 4E cores). Moreover, he claims this SoC features 10 graphics processor cores and 24 GB of memory. With Apple Silicon devices, the SoCs come with memory on-chip, which is good for processor access and efficiency, but not so good for those who might wish to upgrade their system later.

Notably, the purported base-level M3 chip, highlighted above, has the same number of CPU and GPU cores as the base M2 it will replace. There will likely be other improvements present in the M3 so that Apple can boast about various advances with the new generation chips. It is hard to know exactly what changes will be delivered on an architectural level, but one thing that looks quite certain is a move to TSMC's N3 (3nm-class) fabrication technology, which should provide improved efficiency and density.

According to the Bloomberg tech reporter, the story won't be the same for higher-tier M3 chips. Previous leaks and insider indications point to the Apple M3 Pro increasing core counts compared to prior generations, with 12 CPU and 18 graphics cores. Meanwhile, next-generation Mac power users will want to seek out the M3 Max, with a purported 14 CPU cores and over 40 graphics cores.

If you are a happy user of the Apple Mac platform, you will naturally wonder when Apple will roll out its first Macs with the M3 processor. Current indications are that there will be a big Mac launch event not too far from now – in October. Reports suggest that Apple’s Mac business is currently amid a double-digit quarterly decline, so the arrival of the M3 can’t come soon enough to rekindle interest from upgraders and new converts.

The launch of Apple's Mac Pro based on its M2 Ultra processor formally marked the completion of the company's transition from Intel's CPUs to its own system-on-chips, which took about three years. The transition spurred users of Macs to upgrade and encouraged users of Windows to switch to Macs. Roughly half of Apple's PCs bought in Q2 were purchased by new users.

"This past quarter, we were pleased to complete the transition to Apple Silicon for the entire lineup," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, at the company's conference call with analysts and investors (via SeekingAlpha). "This transition has driven both strong upgrade activity and a high number of new customers. In fact, almost half of Mac buyers during the quarter were new to the product. We also saw reported customer satisfaction of 96% for Mac in the U.S."

Indeed, the transition to Apple Silicon helped Apple to boost sales of its Mac computers and gain market share. The company controlled 6.3% of the PC market, with 4.077 million Macs sold in Q2 2019. During Q2 2023, the company commanded 8.6% of the PC market, with 5.3 million units sold. Meanwhile, in Q1 2022, the firm owned 9.3% of the desktop and laptop market as it supplied 7.342 million PCs during the quarter, many of which were sold to first-time users, and many were upgrades.

Controlling the hardware and software enables Apple to integrate various special-purpose accelerators into its SoCs and maximize performance in select applications. In addition, it allows it to precisely tailor its software for these SoCs, which promises to reduce the number of glitches and offer decent performance. Finally, it allows the company to maximize its profit margins now that it does not have to pay for CPUs to Intel. Unfortunately, with the transition to its Apple Silicon, Apple no longer supports third-party GPUs with its Mac Pro PCs, which will frustrate users who need high-performance GPUs.

Since the PC market in Q2 2023 was down 13.4% year-over-year in terms of unit shipments, it is not surprising that Macs generated $6.8 billion in revenue for Apple during the quarter, down 7% year-over-year. It is also noteworthy that Apple sold more PC units than it did in Q2 2022, according to IDC. A reason why Apple's Mac revenue was down amid unit sales growth was probably because many first-time users bought inexpensive PCs. In contrast, in Q2 2022, the company finally ramped up sales of its premium M2 Pro and M2 Max-based MacBook Pros.

Also, it is evident that in Q2 2023, Apple's PC business performed better than the PC businesses of Lenovo, Dell, and Acer, at least regarding unit sales growth. Meanwhile, the company expects Mac and iPad revenue to decline in the ongoing quarter.

"We expect the revenue for both Mac and iPad to decline by double digits year-over-year due to difficult compares, particularly on the Mac," said Cook. "For both products, we experienced supply disruptions from factory shutdowns in the June quarter a year ago and were able to fulfill significant pent-up demand in the year-ago September quarter."

In a post shared today to Twitter/X, maker and developer Ivan Kuleshov shared a cool mod for his Mac Mini that we’re too stoked about not to share. With a little ingenuity, his latest mod has enabled him to successfully power a Mac Mini using PoE — yes, powered only by the ethernet cable — and the ethernet cable can also serve as a power backup for redundancy. If the name sounds familiar, Kuleshov’s the mastermind behind the Raspberry Pi Compute Blade we covered earlier this year.

Kuleshov delved into the creation process of this PoE Mac Mini mod which apparently involved a bit of reconstruction on the original Ethernet port. The native connector had to be completely unsoldered and modified to use the new PoE hardware. In this case, Kuleshove is using a MagJack connector.

According to Kuleshov, the best way to get the hardware he needed was to take apart an existing MagJack. If you aren’t familiar with this component, it’s a type of RJ45 Ethernet connector with the integrated magnets necessary to enable PoE functionality for the port.

Just like in the Compute Blade project, Kuleshov uses off-the-shelf modules for this mod. These components handle all of the signal interpretation with the PoE switch, which is how it’s able to convert and power the Mac Mini with 12V. He provided a close-up look at the mod in the original Twitter/X thread, which we definitely recommend checking out. You can expand the tweet below to see the video and thread.

There are plans in the works to share more details about the development in the near future, including both an in-depth article and a video. In the meantime, you can check out the demo in action over at Twitter/X. This is just one of many cool creations put together by Kuleshov. Be sure to follow him for more clever projects as well as any future updates on this one.

Shenzhen Wesion Technology, a maker of single-board computers and media players, has developed its Khadas Mind. This concept workstation can be expanded with proprietary docks featuring extra ports or a built-in graphics processor. There is a catch, though. Unlike traditional PCs, the Hadas Mind can only be upgraded with proprietary docks and cannot support standard Thunderbolt or USB4 devices.

Wesion's Khadas Mind is a tiny workstation that measures 146×105×20mm (5.75×4.13×0.79 inches) and packs Intel's 12-core Core i7-1360P processor with built-in Iris Xe graphics that is mated with 32GB of LPDDR5-5200 memory and can be equipped with two M.2-2230 SSDs, one with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and another with a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. 

The unit can drive up to three 4K displays out-of-box and has all the connectivity features that one comes to expect from a compact workstation, including a Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 adapter, two USB Type-C connectors (supporting DP, PD, and USB 2.0 or USB 3.2 Gen2), a USB 3.2 Type-A, an HDMI output, and a Mind Link header to connect to docks.

Speaking of docks, the company plans to offer two Mind Link-compatible docks initially. One adding a 2.5 GbE port, three USB 3.2 (5 Gbps) Type-A connectors, two HDMI 2.0 outputs, an SD card reader, a USB Type-C power port, an audio jack, and a volume control knob. Another one packs Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060M mobile GPU and adds a USB-C port, a USB-A connector, an audio jack, and an SD card reader.

 There is a catch about these docks though: they cannot be used simultaneously, so one can either have all the ports, or a proper graphics processor. Wesion plans to offer more docking options eventually, and it remains to be seen whether they can work in concert, or only separately. 

One of the interesting peculiarities of the Khadas Mind is that it has a built-in 5.55Wh battery that provides some extra protection during power loss and allows one to carry the device around in sleep mode without having to shut it down. 

Tiny workstations with mighty capabilities are nothing new: Dell, HP, and Lenovo have offered them for years, and Apple recently debuted its Mac Mini with workstation-grade M2 Pro inside. But tiny workstations have drawbacks: they lack high-performance graphics, have limited connectivity, and cannot be upgraded. Wesion Technology plans to change this with its ultra-portable Khadas Mind workstation and a set of docks it intends to offer.  

However, those docks are not an ideal solution. While they look neat and plug securely into the system, Khadas Mind is only compatible with them and is incompatible with regular Thunderbolt 3/4 or USB 3.2/4 docks. Furthermore, these docks can only work separately and cannot work in concert. 

However, virtually all tiny workstations from all renowned PC makers feature a Thunderbolt or a USB4 port these days. They can add an external graphics card of your choice and plenty of extra ports using standard, widely available docks. While such setups will not look as impressive as the Khadas Mind, they will likely be cheaper and more feature rich than a Khadas Mind with its proprietary docks.

One thing that has to be kept in mind about the Khadas Mind is that it is still in development. Those interested can subscribe to the company's mailing list and wait until development is complete.

As for connectivity, the Minisforum HX90G has everything that one comes to expect from a compact PC these days: it has a 2.5Gb, four display outputs (two DisplayPort, two HDMI), one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C connector, four USB 3.2 Type-A connectors (three USB 3.2 Gen2, one Gen1), and audio jacks. As for Wi-Fi, it can be added using an M.2-2230 slot.

Apple's first personal computers based on its next-generation M3 system-on-chip may be unveiled as early as this October, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who tends to have accurate information from Apple's supply chain. If Apple follows its traditional launch patterns, it makes sense to expect the company to reveal inexpensive M3-based laptops and desktops first. Yet, this is speculation at this point. 

Apple has scheduled a launch event in October, and based on past history, the company is set to introduce new Macs there, Bloomberg asserts. Given that Apple has just released numerous new Macs based on M2 Ultra and M2 Max system-on-chips, it is unlikely that the company will refresh its Mac Studio or even MacBook Pro with any new SoCs. Therefore, the company may well introduce new MacBook Air 13, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro 13, or even iMac (which has not yet gotten an M2 treatment) powered by shiny new M3 SoCs. 

Of course, the assumption about the M3 arrival this October could be entirely wrong. Instead, Apple could release an all-new iMac lineup based on M2, M2 Pro, and M2 Ultra SoCs. Yet, being a notebook-centric company, Apple could be more inclined to update its 13-inch laptops with a new SoC. 

An avid reader would probably ask what to expect from Apple's M3, which is rumored to be made on TSMC's N3 (3nm-class) fabrication technology that promises higher performance efficiency and higher transistor density compared to TSMC's N5P production node used for M2. At this point, it is hard to guess the exact improvements, but the company has a number of options, including increased general-purpose core count, enhanced GPU, and additional accelerators, just to name a few.

Keep in mind that the information comes from an unofficial source, and plans tend to change, so while it is logical to expect the arrival of Apple's first M3 machines about 1.5 years after the first M2-based products, it remains to be seen what Apple has to show in October.

AMD's Ryzen Z1 series isn't far from being one of the best CPUs; however, the Zen 4-powered chips do wonders for handheld gaming devices, such as the ROG Ally, the primary rival to the Steam Deck. Despite being processors that consume no more than 30W, the Ryzen Z1 series can rival some desktop processors as long as the latter is a few generations old.

If you haven't been following the gaming handheld scene, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is AMD's highest-performing processor for handheld devices. Wielding the latest Zen 4 cores, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme has eight cores, 16 threads, and respectable clock speeds to brag about. The octa-core chip has a 3.3 GHz base clock and a boost clock that hits 5.1 GHz. Nonetheless, Ryzen Z1 Extreme's RDNA 3-based integrated graphics is mainly responsible for the chip's graphics prowess. It features 12 RDNA 3 compute units at 2.7 GHz.

While other ROG Ally owners are busy gaming, Twitter user Mochamad Farido Fanani has benchmarked the Ryzen Z1 Extreme with Cinebench R23, providing a reference for comparison to see how much processing power is inside the tiny Zen 4 chip. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme inside the ROG ally has access to 16GB (2x8GB) of LPDDR5-6400 memory.

The Ryzen Z1 Extreme delivered 32% and 17% higher single-and multi-core performance than the Core i5-10600K. It's an impressive feat on one hand because the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is a 30W, reportedly running at 15W, while the Core i5-10600K is a 125W processor. That's a significant delta in TDP. On the other hand, the Core i5-10600K is a three-year-old chip, so it does take away some merit from the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

It's logical the Ryzen Z1 Extreme cannot compete with a more modern model, like the Core i5-13600K. The margins were abysmal. The Core i5-13600K posted 20% faster in single-core performance and 113% in multi-core performance.

The Ryzen Z1 Extreme was superior to the Apple M1 (via Anandtech's review of the Mac Mini). The Zen 4 chip outperformed the Apple M1 by 10% in single-core performance and 38% in multi-core performance. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme was also 3% faster than the M2 Max (MacBook Pro 2023) in single-core performance. However, the M2 Max showed its strength in the multi-core benchmark, outpacing the Ryzen Z1 Extreme by 37%.

Asus has interim exclusivity to AMD's Ryzen Z1 series of high-performance processors for handheld gaming consoles. The processor's maximum potential remains a mystery. It'll be interesting to see if other manufacturers can squeeze more out of the Ryzen Z1 series.

Apple announced the new Mac Pro powered by its M2 Ultra processor at WWDC23. It launched in stores this week, and there's already a bug in the wild. In a support document, Apple disclosed a software bug with the Mac Pro where internal SATA drives would be disconnected when the computer goes to sleep. Apple has a fix on the way, but it won't arrive until the next macOS update.

The 2023 Mac Pro starts with 1TB of solid-state storage on the $6,999 base model. However, they can spec the machine for up to 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB for an added premium when purchasing the Mac Pro from Apple's website, or they can purchase upgrade kits directly from Apple. They don't come cheap, though. The 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB kits retail for $1,000, $1,600, and $2,800, respectively. These are not off-the-shelf SSDs (they actually work more like NAND and connect to the controller on the M2 Ultra) and can be pricey. Luckily, the device provides two standard SATA III ports, opening the doors for mainstream secondary storage options. The Promise Pegasus J2i 8TB Internal Storage Enclosure, which sells for $400, allows consumers to use conventional SATA hard drives or SSDs that are more budget-friendly. That's precisely where Apple found the nasty bug.

When owners wake their Mac Pro from sleep, they may be greeted by a "disk not ejected properly" window as if the SATA drive is ejected like a flash drive. The reason for the prompt is that some hard drive models would automatically disconnect from the device when the Mac Pro goes to sleep. However, Apple didn't provide a list of the affected drive models, only listing that it happens to "certain models of internal SATA drives". The issue can occur whether the Mac Pro enters sleep mode automatically or when consumers manually put the device to sleep.

Apple's current stopgap solution is for users to restart their systems when the problem occurs. It is also recommending that Mac Pro owners disable sleep mode. The option is called "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off," and is located in the advanced section of the Displays options under System Settings. In other words, you're better off never going to sleep, or shutting your Mac down entirely, to prevent the issue.

Fortunately, it's not a hardware issue. The problem resides on a software level, which Apple can mitigate through a macOS update. Apple will include the fix in the next macOS update for Ventura (probably macOS 13.4.1) but didn't provide a specific ETA. Until then, Mac Pro owners may want to avoid sleep mode if they have incorporated hard drives into the system.

This issue is particularly interesting because the new Mac Pro is the first time Apple is allowing user-added storage inside a system since Apple silicon released for Mac. (It's not available in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, or Mac Studio). 

When Apple announced its latest M2 Pro- and M2 Max-based MacBook Pros last week, the company boasted about performance gains (up to a 20 percent uplift for the CPU, up to 30 percent for the GPU) and improved battery life. Unfortunately, it appears that one area of performance has taken a step backward for M2 Pro-based MacBook Pros, at least for the $1,999 base model with a 512GB SSD. 

Multiple reports confirm that the SSD on the 2023 14-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 512GB) is significantly slower than the one found in the 2021 14-inch MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 512GB). The first word about the performance downgrade came from @ZONEofTECH, who compared the two systems. The M2 Pro system scored 2929 MBps write and 2703 MBps read using the AJA System Test Lite benchmark. Its M1 Pro-based predecessor scored 3450 Mbps on the write test and 4081 MBps on the read test.

In his tweet, @ZONEofTECH opined, "Apple is likely using single SSD modules again (like the base 256GB M2 Air and M2 MacBook Pro)."

Further confirmation came this afternoon from Mac-centric website 9to5Mac, which also noticed slower performance with the new base model MacBook Pro. The publication used the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on the 2023 MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 512GB) and recorded writes of 3154.4 MBps and reads of 2973.4 MBps. For comparison, the 2021 MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 512GB) on hand put up higher numbers at 3950.8 MBps and 4900.3 MBps, respectively.

Given the performance degradation, 9to5Mac decided to open the case on the new MacBook Pro to see if the chip configuration had changed compared to the previous generation. "Sure enough, where the 512GB M1 Pro MacBook Pro had two NAND chips visible on the front of the motherboard and another two on the back, the M2 Pro MacBook Pro had only one visible on the front of the board," the publication wrote. "There is likely a second NAND chip directly opposing this, as the M1 had."

According to iFixit, the 2021 MacBook Pro's 512GB SSD is split among four 128GB NAND chips. Its 2023 MacBook Pro counterpart instead uses two 256GB NAND chips in parallel. That could account for the performance decrease for the new MacBook Pro.

Interestingly, this performance downgrade extends to the 256GB variant of the 2023 Mac mini with the M2 SoC. When Apple announced the M2- and M2 Pro-based Mac minis last week, the company also reduced prices for the base model. The M1 Mac mini had a starting price of $699, while the new M2 Mac mini dropped that price to just $599.

Now, we know how Apple was able to achieve at least some of those cost savings: it skimped out on storage performance. The 2020 Mac mini (M1, 256GB) uses two 128GB NAND chips in parallel and achieves 2733 MBps write and 2854 MBps read with the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, according to Twitter user @t4bl3r0n3. Conversely, the 2023 Mac mini (M2, 256GB) sees its results roughly halve to 1431 MBps and 1482 MBps, respectively. Brandon Geekabit also confirmed these storage performance drops in a YouTube video.

If all of this sounds familiar, Apple performed the same SSD switcheroo with the base version of the MacBook Air (M2, 256GB). Using slower SSDs on the 2023 MacBook Pro and 2023 Mac mini could impact file transfer performance and overall system performance. In addition, any applications that exhaust the available physical memory would need to fall back to the SSD for virtual memory. The Mac mini would likely be impacted more by paging out to the SSD, given that the base 256GB storage configuration only comes with 8GB of RAM.

Apple's decision to lower storage performance in exchange for a $100 price cut on the entry-level Mac mini is somewhat understandable. However, the step backward in storage performance on the $1,999 MacBook Pro is less defensible. For customers paying top dollar for a "pro level" machine, you wouldn't expect storage performance to take such a dramatic hit.

The first reviews of Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro and Mac Mini are here, and, with them, we're getting to see impressions of Apple's new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. The design of the machines are effectively the same (minus some port changes on the Mac Mini), so the big changes are all in the silicon.

While we still hope to get our hands on the new processors to run them through their paces, we're pouring over the existing results to see what reviewers think of the new chips. We're particularly interested in two things: performance and battery life. That's not to say the new system's designs aren't important — I own an M1 Pro MacBook Pro and like it very much, minus the notch — but we're focusing on what's been changed and improved.

The general consensus seems to be that the new chips bring some solid performance upgrades, especially for those looking to upgrade from older Intel-based systems.

The M2 Pro can be found in all three of Apple's new computers: the Mac Mini, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The base model has a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, but most of the reviews out there have a step up: the full 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU. The 16-core neural engine is the same across both chips. Some reviewers saw the M2 Pro in the laptop, while others saw it in the Mac Mini.

The M2 Max is only in the laptops: the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It starts with a 12-core CPU and 30-core GPU, and the upgrade nets you a 38-core GPU. Both have a 16-core neural engine.

We've collated some scores from our sister sites Laptop Mag and Tom's Guide, as well as some of our prior review data on the 2021 models.

The performance scores those sites have published are fascinating. The two CPUs both have 12 cores, but the M2 Pro has 32GB of RAM and the M2 Max has 64GB. The other big difference is the GPU: The M2 Pro has a 19-core GPU, while the M2 Max has a 38-core GPU.

I was initially surprised to see that these chips produced the scores they did in Geekbench 5, with the M2 Pro slightly ahead of the M2 Max. My thoughts are that these scores are pretty close, and Apple should be using the same CPU cores here. While the M2 Max's 64GB of RAM should be helping a bit, these may be within standard error. It's also possible that, because the M2 Max has so much going on on the chip, it may have been hampered slightly in multi-core when those GPU cores weren't being used. We're hoping to get our hands on the hardware soon to see what we can learn about it.

On battery life, it appears the M2 Pro-based machine is on par with the 2021 model, while the M2 Max machine took a surprising dive. Of course, battery life is going to depend on what you're doing with the device. 

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Max shows its might with the highest frame rate at 1920 x 1200. Keep in mind that this is an older game, and not one designed for Apple Silicon or Metal. The M2 Max is also playable at 2024 x 1964 at 34 fps.

Other New Features

As an M1 Pro owner, the most appealing features are the upgraded Wi-Fi and HDMI standards. The M2 chips bump up these laptops to Wi-Fi 6E, HDMI 2.1, and Bluetooth 5.3. Will I use these all? Probably not, but I love to future-proof (and I do have a Wi-Fi 6E router).

HDMI 2.1 means you can even push 8K monitors at 60 Hz, which is overkill for most but may fit some creative workflows. For most people, the benefit is that you can get 4K at more than 60 fps. Apple claims you can reach 240 Hz, but you may have a hard time finding a monitor that actually supports that. 

We hope to get our hands on these laptops soon to see for ourselves, but initial impressions are good. It sounds like Apple's second round of pro-grade Apple Silicon can hang with other high-end chips. If the new MacBooks have the same great displays, keyboards, and speakers, these will be great for Mac users willing to cough up the cash (and deal with the notch).

Despite reports that M2 Pro and M2 Max-based products were delayed yet again, Apple today announced the launch of new MacBook Pros and Mac Minis using the new SoCs. The M2 Pro and M2 Max are more powerful versions of the M2 launched last year in the MacBook Air.

As Apple explains, the M2 Pro “scales up” the M2, giving customers 10 or 12 CPU cores and up to 19 GPU cores. The 12-core configuration has eight high-performance cores and four efficiency cores. For comparison, the M2 in the MacBook Air comes with an 8-core CPU and either an 8- or 10-core GPU. The M2 Pro can also be paired with up to 32GB of unified memory.

Apple claims that the 12-core M2 Pro is up to 20 percent faster than the 10-core version of the M1 Pro in multi-threaded apps. With the new 19-core GPU (three more than the M1 Pro’s GPU), performance is up to 20 percent faster. 

For a real-world example, Apple says that the 16-inch MacBook with the M2 Pro is 25 percent faster than its M1 Pro counterpart while compiling in Xcode. It’s also allegedly 2.5x faster than the legacy 16-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 processor. In addition, image processing in Photoshop is reportedly 40 percent faster than the M1 Pro and 80 percent faster than the Core i9. 

The M2 Max is the flagship SoC and has the same 12-core CPU as the M2 Pro but doubles the maximum number of GPU cores to 38. Performance is further enhanced by doubling unified memory bandwidth to 400 GB/s compared to 200 GB/s for the M2 Pro. As a result, graphics performance is up to 30 percent faster than the preceding M1 Max. While the M2 Pro can be paired with a maximum of 32GB of memory, the M2 Max triples that figure to 96GB. 

The M2 Pro and M2 Max are built on a 5nm process node, packing 40 billion transistors and 67 billion transistors, respectively. The two chips also share a 16-core Neural Engine capable of executing nearly 16 trillion operations per second (a 40 percent uplift compared to the previous generation). Other features include an enhanced version of the Secure Enclave security platform and a beefed-up media engine.

The M2 Pro is available in refreshed versions of the Mac mini, 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The M2 Max is only available on the new MacBook Pros. All of the M2 Pro- and M2 Max-equipped Macs ship on January 24th.

Apple has quietly refreshed its 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros with new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, promising longer battery life and, on the M2 Max versions, up to 96GB of RAM. The new laptops are available for pre-order today, and will launch on January 24.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro will start at $1,999, while the 16-incher will begin at $2,499. Those prices are with the M2 Pro, and prices will scale as you go up to the M2 Max and add more RAM and storage.

Apple didn't announce the laptops in a planned event, but rather subtly dropped a new video and a press release.

While the chassis isn't changing at all, there are some serious changes beneath the hood. The M2 Pro model will start at a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU (it will go up to 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU), 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. The M2 Max laptops will start with a 12-core CPU and 30-core GPU (it goes up to a 38-core GPU), 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage.

The M2 Pro models have 200 GB/s memory bandwidth, twice of what the normal M2 allows. Apple claims The MacBook Pro with M2 Pro is 20% faster than the previous generation device at rendering in Motion, 25% faster in compiling in XCode and up to 40% in processing images in Photoshop.

Meanwhile, the M1 Max gets 400 GB/s of unified memory, doubling what M2 Pro offers, and goes up to 96GB of unified RAM, which Apple says makes it a graphics powerhouse. Apple claims color grading in DaVinci Resolve is 30% faster than last generation, and that rendering effects in Cinema 4D is as much as 30% faster.

Apple has moved wireless from 6 to 6E, and its "more advanced" HDMI port can support one display at 8K (at 60 Hz) or 4K (at 240 Hz). The laptops can support up to four external displays (one through each Thunderbolt 4 port and HDMI).

Among the parts that aren't changing are the Liquid Retina XDR display, 1080p FaceTime HD camera, six-speaker audio and MagSafe 3.

In addition to the MacBook Pro laptops, Apple is launching the Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro, starting at $599 with M2 and $1,299 with M2 Pro. The latter gets four Thunderbolt 5 ports and can support an 8K display. It's also getting Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

Apple has one more computer to convert to Apple Silicon: the Mac Pro. And it sounds like it will be more familiar than we expected. According to Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, an upcoming refresh will appear identical to the 2019 version.

To some, that's a bit of a shame, as many of Apple's designs featuring its own silicon have been evolving. But more interesting to us here at Tom's Hardware is what's going on inside. Previous Bloomberg reports suggested that a high-end Mac Pro with 48 CPU cores and 152 graphics clusters was languishing, and now Gurman says it has been canceled. Instead, he writes that Apple will release the Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra, an evolution of the M1 Ultra found in the Mac Studio.

Apple Silicon chips have all had RAM onboard, and that makes for an odd setup for the Mac Pro. Gurman's newsletter suggests that unlike the Intel Xeon-based model from 2019, the upcoming Mac Pro won't have upgradeable RAM. That being said, he reports that there will be two SSD storage slots and room for "graphics, media and networking cards."

It's extremely interesting to see the suggestion that graphics cards will be modular here, as Apple has been relying on its own integrated graphics on all Apple Silicon devices. (Apple claimed the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra rivals the RTX 3090, though independent testing suggested that wasn't the case, especially in gaming.) I suppose it's possible that somewhere, Apple is writing drivers for AMD or Nvidia's cards. Or it could be using something like the Apple Afterburner card, which it introduced with the 2019 Mac Pro for Video editing in the ProRes and ProRes RAW codecs. The existing Mac Pros are based on Intel Xeon chips and work with AMD Radeon Pro graphics (the most recent are W6000X cards designed exclusively for Apple's tower, bringing AMD's RDNA 2 graphics in 2021).

When Apple released the Mac Studio, it said in its announcement video that the beefed-up Mac Mini wasn't replacing the Mac Pro. There will be a question, however, of which to get if upgradeability is limited anyway, especially if the Mac Studio gets a bump to M2 Ultra. But it's likely that the Mac Pro will cost far more than the Studio currently does.

In other Mac news, Gurman reports that the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, some of the best ultrabooks, will get spec bumps with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips in the first half of the year, and that there's still a planned 15-inch MacBook Air sometime in 2023.

The iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods are likely to see small bumps, with no news for Apple TV hardware. Some of this is due to Apple's focus on announcing a mixed-reality headset, possibly called Reality Pro, ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, reportedly to launch in the fall.

Benchmarks for Apple’s unannounced but almost certainly real M2 Max have appeared in Geekbench results, which shows a 12-core processor running at 3.54GHz and backed by 96GB of RAM. The rumored chip, which would be used in forthcoming MacBook Pro and Mac Studio models, offers a slight increase in performance over the existing M1 Max if the Geekbench run is accurate.

The Geekbench 5 results are for a 'Mac14,6' computer running on unreleased macOS 13.2 software. It manages a single-core score of 1,853 and a multi-core score of 13,855. If accurate, this is a little disappointing, as an eight-core M2 MacBook Pro hits 1,899 in the same single-core benchmark. However, the greater number of cores in the M2 Max machine sees it pull ahead in the multi-core ranking, with the M1 scoring 8,737 (5,000 points behind). However, all the M-class Macs trounce an Intel iMac from 2020, with that machine's Core i7-10700K at 3.8GHz scoring 1,250 in the single-core test and 8,157 in the multi-core.

A report from Taiwan's DigiTimes claims Apple will move from the M2's current 5nm TMSC process to a 3nm node for the M2 Pro. Of course, Apple hasn't announced this development, but manufacturing capacity at TSMC was reportedly booked by Apple back in the summer. 

The previous generation M1 chips were eventually available in four guises: vanilla, Pro, Max and Ultra, with the upper-level chips having more cores and beefier GPUs. While the Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Air, a few MacBook Pros and the iPad Pro got basic chips, most MacBook Pros come with a choice of M1 Pro or M1 Max, with the new Mac Studio able to be specced with an M1 Ultra, which is two M1 Pro chips stuck together. While the M1 has eight or 10 CPU cores, the differences between the chips are mainly expressed in the number of GPU cores and the amount of RAM in the package.

It's not unreasonable to expect M2 to go the same route, and while so far we've only seen M2 in the 2022 MacBook Air and a single MacBook Pro model (as well as an iPad Pro), we expect the processor to make its way through the entire Mac computer range, even perhaps infiltrating the Mac Pro, which is still an Intel-only zone.

Sometimes you just need a bit more storage space. One of the easiest ways to do that on your Mac is to uninstall apps that you don't use anymore.

But on a Mac (including a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini or Mac Pro), there are several different ways to uninstall apps, depending on where you installed them from (the web or the Mac App Store).

We'll go through the different methods here so you can clean apps you no longer use from your Mac to free up some space and get you better organized.

Here's how to uninstall apps on a Mac.

How to Uninstall Mac Apps Downloaded From the Mac App Store

1.  Open Launchpad. You can get to it from your dock, if you keep it there, or in Finder > Applications.

2. Click on the app until it wiggles, similar to the effect on iPhones and iPads. You can also hold down the Option (⌥) key.

3. Click on the delete button (a small X) in the top left corner of the App Store app you want to delete.  

4. Click "Delete" when you're asked to confirm.

How to Uninstall Mac Apps Downloaded From the Web

1. Open the Finder and go to the Applications folder. It's in the left sidebar. (If you have installed an app somewhere outside of this folder, you'll need to find it there. Consider using Spotlight to find it.)

2. Drag the app to the Trash in the dock. Alternatively, you can right-click the app to uninstall and click "Move to Trash."

3. Empty the Trash. You can right click on the trash icon and pick "empty Trash." Alternatively, go to Finder > Empty Trash.

Deleting apps through the Finder largely works. You won't be able to see them and you will have to reinstall them to use them. But it can also leave some residual data in the hidden "Library" folder. Most people won't notice, but if you're like me, you like knowing that everything is really, really gone. Here's my method for ensuring that gets erased, too.

How to Uninstall Mac Apps and Residual Data with AppCleaner

To uninstall apps as well as data that may be left behind, I like the free third-party software AppCleaner (though the developer accepts donations if you're feeling charitable). Here's how to use it.

1. Open AppCleaner.

2. the app you want to uninstall to AppCleaner.

3. Click "Remove." Everything listed will move to the trash.

4. Empty the Trash

If you're inclined, you could go through the Library yourself and not use third-party software, but I've been using this method for years without issue (and less risk of breaking things).

About Uninstallers

Some Mac applications downloaded from the web come with a secondary app, called an uninstaller. Those are few and far between these days, but for those that do, running the app should remove both the software and any leftover data for you.

Whether you're looking to sell a MacBook, pass it off to a friend or family member or even recycle it, you'll want to reset your Mac. Doing so will remove any files, log you out of any accounts, clear out your apps and ensure that wherever your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iMac or other macOS device doesn't have traces of your information.

The instructions below are primarily for macOS Ventura and later, but we'll list a few tweaks to how to do this on macOS Montere and some older Macs as well.

Just like if you're going to factory reset a Windows PC, back up your data first, whether it's through iCloud, Time Machine or non-Apple service. You don't want to lose anything when you reset your MacBook.

It may also be a good idea to sign out of iMessage, iCloud and other services, though you'll have the opportunity to do this soon. You may even want to unpair Bluetooth devices.

Here's how to reset your MacBook (or other macOS device):

Erase All Content and Settings

This is a step you can take on Macs running on Apple Silicon chips or Intel processors with Apple's T2 chip.It may be enough if you're handing the laptop down to family.

1. On macOS Ventura or later, go to the Apple menu (it's a small Apple logo) in the top-left corner of the screen and click "System Settings."

If you have System Settings in your dock, you can also get there that way.

2. Click "General" and choose "Transfer or Reset."

3. Click "Erase All Content and Settings."

On macOS Monterey, you can go to the Apple menu > System Preferences and then "Erase All Content and Settings" to get to the same place. On macOS versions older than Monterey, you'll have to go straight to reinstalling macOS (see below), but you may want to delete what you can by hand.

4. Enter your password and click "Unlock" in the erase assistant window. Depending on whether you've used Time Machine or not, you may be prompted to back up your Mac now.

5. Click "Continue" to sign out of your Apple ID, remove fingerprints from TouchID, unpair accessories, turn off location sharing and to remove your settings and data.

6. If prompted, enter your Apple ID password to sign out of iCloud and other Apple services.

7. Click "Erase All Content & Settings" to start the erasure process. This is irreversible, so be sure you're ready.

Your Mac will restart, and you'll see the Apple logo with a progress bar. It may restart  including making the startup chime. Your Mac will boot up in the recovery assistant.

8. Connect to a Wi-Fi network using the Wi-Fi icon in the top right corner of the screen, then click "Next." If you have an Ethernet adapter, you can also connect to the internet that way.

When this is done, your Mac will activate and restart.

At this point, you'll be able to set up your MacBook like new, as if you were turning it on for the first time. If you're ready to hand it down, sell it, or trade it in, you can just turn it off.

For most people, this will be enough. But if your Mac doesn't have the Erase All Content and Settings Option (particularly if it's not on macOS Monterey or newer, or is an older Intel Mac), you may have to resort to the nuclear option.

Erase Your MacBook, Reinstall macOS

To reset a MacBook without the "Erase All Content and Settings" option, you'll have to take more drastic steps. Since most Apple Silicon Macs can upgrade to Ventura or later, this is primarily for older Intel Macs without either Apple's processors or T2 security chips.

To erase your MacBook this way, you'll need to go into macOS Recovery and proceed from there. Here's how:

1. Turn on your Mac, and hold Command ⌘ and R until the Apple logo pops up. You may see a progress bar. If you do, it should pass quickly. (If you happen to be doing this on an Apple Silicon machine, instead hold the power button and choose "options" from the menu screen.)

2. Choose "Disk Utility" and click "Continue."

3. In the sidebar, select "Macintosh HD" (unless you've previously changed its name, in which case it will reflect that name).

4. Click "Erase" on the top of the window.

5. Name the volume "Macintosh HD" and choose the format "APFS" or "mac OS Extended (Journaled) — whichever the Disk Utility suggests.

6. Click "Erase Volume Group" (or "Erase" if that is not shown).  When the process is done, click "Done."

7. Enter your Apple ID if prompted to do so.

8. Quit Disk Utility, either through the top menu or by hitting Command ⌘ + Q.

Your MacBook is now erased. If you have other drives in your Mac that may need wiping, you can repeat this process.

You'll be back in macOS Recovery. Now, you need to reinstall macOS on your MacBook: 

9.  Click "Reinstall macOS" and then "Continue." Our image shows macOS Big Sur, but you may be using a different version.

The installer for the version of macOS you were already using will pop up.

10. Click "Continue." You'll have to follow the prompts like you would for any installation, including accepting the terms of service and selecting the drive to install the OS to (most MacBooks will only have the one.)

The installation may take awhile and include at least one reboot, if not more. The first boot up may take a bit longer than expected.

Your Mac will reboot, leaving you with a pristine MacBook (or desktop) with just the OS on it, ready to be set up as if it were the first time. Now it's suitable for a fresh start or a new owner. You can hold down the power button to shut it off, and you're ready to go.

Miniature workstations with high-performance CPUs are pretty common these days. However, compact workstations with a discrete graphics processor that can drive modern games are, to put it mildly, hard to find. Nevertheless, Minisforum's new HX90G packs an eight-core AMD Ryzen 9 processor and AMD's discrete Radeon RX 6600M GPU into a chassis measuring just 20.5×20.3×6.93cm, which is comparable to a Mac Mini. 

Minisforum's Neptune Series HX90G is based on AMD's Ryzen 5900HX processor (8C/16T, 20MB L2+L3 cache, 3.30 GHz – 4.60 GHz) as well as Radeon RX 6600M graphics processing unit (1792 stream processors, up to 7.80 FP32 TFLOPS) that are soldered down. The CPU and GPU are cooled down using two separate cooling systems equipped with their own fan to keep performance consistent. In addition, the machine can be fitted with up to 64GB of DDR4 memory using two SO-DIMM modules and has two M.2 slots with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface (one supports SATA) for storage. See detailed specifications in the table below.

As for connectivity, the Minisforum HX90G has everything that one comes to expect from a compact PC these days: it has a 2.5Gb, four display outputs (two DisplayPort, two HDMI), one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C connector, four USB 3.2 Type-A connectors (three USB 3.2 Gen2, one Gen1), and audio jacks. As for Wi-Fi, it can be added using an M.2-2230 slot.

From a general-purpose performance point of view, Minisforum HX90G is a capable PC, as AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX with eight Zen 3 cores with simultaneous multithreading will provide enough oomph for almost any task that one comes to expect from a PC that is slightly larger than Apple's Mac Mini. Meanwhile, with up to 64GB of memory and two M.2-2280 slots, one can get loads of storage space.

When it comes to gaming, not everything is that simple. AMD's Radeon RX 6600M 8GB is based on the Navi 23 GPU with 1792 SPs and compute performance of up to 7.80 FP32 TFLOPS with proper cooling. This is comparable to the desktop Radeon RX 6600 (7.30 – 8.90 FP32 TFLOPS), which is probably enough for 1080p gaming (based on Tom's Hardware benchmarks among the best graphics cards available today), albeit offering poor ray tracing performance. Unfortunately, the graphics processor is not user-replaceable in the Elitemini HX90G, so the owner will have to stick with the mediocre GPU and 1080p gaming for a few years.  

Minisforum Elitemini HX90G will be available in mid-November starting at $799 (with a discount from the default price of $939) without shipping for a barebones version with AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX and Radeon RX 6600M, but without memory, storage, and Windows. When populated with 64GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, the machine will cost $1,079 (with a discount from a default price of $1,269) without shipping.

LattePanda, a Chinese electronics manufacturer that has released two generations of single-board computers with Intel CPUs, has taken the covers off its latest product, the LattePanda 3 Delta, which is now on sale following some teasing from the brand’s Twitter account and a Kickstarter campaign last year. 

It’s no shock to discover that the board uses an Intel CPU, and the new board follows its predecessors by also sporting an Arduino Leonardo coprocessor. This unusual addition is an ATmega32u4 (a RISC-based microcontroller) with built-in USB, and can appear to the connected computer as a keyboard and mouse, as well as a virtual COM port. 

Slightly larger than a Raspberry Pi at 125 x 78 x 16mm (4.9″ x 3.1″ x 0.6″), the 3 Delta can run desktop versions of both Linux and Windows, the Celeron N5105 (four Jasper Lake cores, four threads, boosting to 2.9GHz and drawing 10W) is backed by 8GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC. You can slot an M.2 NVME SSD into one of its slots, while the other is compatible with SATA drives or mobile data modems. There's Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 onboard, an HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, three USB 3.2 Type-A ports — one of which is a 10Gbps Gen 2 — and a Type-C port for power (there’s a separate 12v input), data, and DisplayPort. There's also a 3.5mm audio/mic jack.

GPIO pins run down both sides of the board, with Arduino and BIOS pins, including 3.3v and 5v power output on one side, and RS232, USB 2, I2C, audio and system control pins on the other. The CPU requires active cooling, so there's a fan header at one end, and with the shroud-like blower cooler attached the board looks rather like a small graphics card, or the inside of an old Mac Mini.

With the ability to run Windows (we’d be more inclined to put a lightweight Linux distro such as Mint’s Xfce Edition on it, but we’re weird like that) the possibilities of what to do with the board are endless — especially when you take the Arduino and the compatibility with 4K touchscreens into account. The need for active cooling, however, means it may not be entirely silent. 

Apple's transition to its own custom Arm-based system-on-chips enabled the company to increase its systems' sales and made it a dominant supplier of PC-grade Arm SoCs. As for Arm, its instruction set architecture now commands nearly 9% of the global PC market. 

"Apple established itself as a distant market leader in Arm-based notebook PC processors with almost 90% revenue share [in 2021]*," wrote Sravan Kundojjala, Director of Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics.  

Companies like Acer, Dell, and HP have been shipping Chromebooks and Windows-on-Snapdragon always-connected PCs (ACPC) based on various Arm-powered SoCs for years. However, these PCs have never been truly popular due to mediocre performance and/or uncompetitive pricing. With its M1-based iMacs, MacBooks, and Mac Minis introduced in 2020 and throughout 2021, Apple not only managed to offer competitive performance and appealing design, but it also priced those systems very competitively (e.g., below previous-generation systems featuring Intel's CPUs). So, it attracted sales both from its loyal customers and from new clients. 

Apple outmaneuvered Arm-based Chromebooks and ACPCs in terms of sales and in revenue since its systems are still premium machines priced well above average Chromebooks.  

Since Qualcomm's Nuvia-based SoCs will not launch until late 2023, Apple will continue to offer the fastest Arm-powered SoCs for PCs and will likely lead the market in Arm desktops and laptops for quite a while. 

"Apple's M-series family of processors set the benchmark and gave Apple a 2–3-year lead over the rest of the Arm-based PC processor vendors. Qualcomm captured just 3% revenue share in the Arm-based notebook PC processor market in 2021 and lags Apple in CPU performance," wrote Kundojjala. "Despite its low share, Qualcomm continues to invest in notebook PC processors with its Nuvia CPU cores. We believe that Arm-based notebook PC processor offers an attractive opportunity to Qualcomm, given the company's growing collection of high-performance processor assets including CPU, GPU, AI, audio, imaging, connectivity, gaming and security." 

The industry shipped around 348.8 million PCs in 2021 and 80.5 million systems in Q1 2022, according to IDC. Sales of Chromebooks totaled 37 million units in 2021 as well as 5.1 million systems in Q1 2022. In the first quarter, Apple shipped 7.2 million Macs and had a market share of 8.9%.  

Since the vast majority of Apple's PCs solid in Q1 this year were powered by its own Arm-enabled SoC, it is clear that Arm commands a sizeable share of the PC market due to Apple's M-series SoCs alone. Meanwhile, there are also several popular Chromebooks based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon as well as MediaTek SoCs. While those systems are not as popular as Apple's MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptops, it is safe to say that Arm's share in PCs is at least 10%, a significant achievement for the British CPU designer. 

It should be noted that for now, Arm-based SoCs power mainstream and even entry-level workstation machines, but they still cannot compete against high-end x86-powered desktop PCs, especially in the field of gaming. Therefore, Arm, Apple, and Qualcomm still have a lot of work to do in a bid to successfully compete against AMD and Intel across all fields.  

*Note: Since Strategy Analytics does not disclose how it estimates revenue that Apple gets for its notebook processors, our story is focused on volume sales of Apple Macintosh systems in 2021 (27.775 million) and in Q1 2022 (7.2 million) compared to shipments of Chromebooks in 2021 (37 million) and in Q1 2022 (5.1 million). We also note that the vast majority of Chrome OS-powered machines use x86 processors from AMD or Intel.

Popular online electronics retailer B&H photo has set up a placeholder product page for a new Apple Mac computer featuring an Apple Silicon M2 processor. Apple will host its WWDC keynote on Monday, and the Apple press is keen to get early scoops. Still, sites like 9to5 Mac admit that the B&H listing may be an attention-grabbing prank or hoax, as Apple doesn't pass on any information to resellers ahead of product announcements.

The first of B&H Photo's 'accidental' early product page leaks is a new Mac Mini with an M2 processor. According to the retailer page, this mini computer comes in an 8GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration (possibly others). Adding a bit of sauce to its listing, the retailer says, "checkout will be available at 9:45 pm ET Monday night." WWDC22 runs from Monday, June 6, to Friday, June 10, with the keynote on the first day at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET. Apple traditionally opens sales, or at least pre-orders, of products shortly after their announcement.

Nearly all readers will be familiar with the iconic Mac Mini. Therefore tomorrow, the most significant interest will be in what is inside – with this listing teasing the arrival of the new M2 processor. Perhaps B&H read our story from early March when we discussed the rumors of M2 Mac Minis by mid-2022. That report suggested the more contemporary architecture M2 processors leverage a mix of Avalanche performance cores and Blizzard efficiency cores. Moreover, the GPU core counts are likely to be increased, and the TSMC process node will move from N5 to N5P. Looking further ahead, rumors say that the Apple M3 SoCs will use TSMC's next-generation N3 node.

Of course, no one knows what kind of performance uplift the new M2 SoCs will deliver to Apple's Mac refreshes. Even after the keynote and the presentation slides at hand, we won't have the most straightforward idea either, as a cloud of marketing will add to the technical information shared. Therefore, we must look forward to third-party testing and comparisons to get an authentic feel for what M2 delivers.

Another listing spotted at the US electronics retailer was one for an Apple Mac Mini Tower. As a more premium design, it is odd that this would come with an M1 Pro SoC and the same 8GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration as the Mac Mini. 9to5 Mac reckons to list the tower design as a probable sign that the product page is fake for the fun of someone at B&H. In other words, take these two listings with a hefty pinch of salt.

Apple mentioned a new Mac Pro on the way at the end of its March event, so if there is any 'tower' being prepared for launch tomorrow, this is what we expect. The last Mac Pro, AKA the cheese grater, launched with up to a 28-core Intel Xeon processor in late 2019.

Other Macs that could be in line for an update tomorrow include the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13. Outside of the laptop/desktop computer arena, tomorrow's most exciting hardware launch could be Apple's first AR/VR headset. As a developer conference, most of the week will be concerned with software; MacOS 13, iPadOS 16, iOS 16, TVOS 16, and WatchOS 9 are all expected to arrive during WWDC22 and new and improved apps.

Apple has sued startup Rivos for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to its latest A15 and M1 system-on-chips. The startup is in stealth mode, but in a year it hired over 40 engineers from Apple and allegedly asked some to take gigabytes of confidential information with them.

Rivos was founded in June 2021 to develop system-on-chips that could rival those used by Apple and other companies. The company allegedly wanted to poach as many Apple employees as possible and so far has hired over 40 engineers from the Cupertino, California-based tech giant, reports Reuters.

Rivos is a startup that operates in stealth mode, so it is unclear what kind of SoCs it intends to develop. Given the nature of A15 and M1, we can speculate that the firm could be looking to the smartphones and PC markets.

According to Apple, at least two of former Apple employees allegedly took thousands of files related to A15 and M1 SoC design and other trade secrets. Rivos allegedly specifically targeted Apple engineers with access to gigabytes of confidential data and asked them to download it to flash drives, reports Bloomberg.

Apple claims that usage of its trade secrets and design of A15 and M1 could significantly accelerate development of Rivos SoCs and provide the company unfair advantages over other processor designers, such as Apple itself. To that end, Apple wants the court to block usage of its highly sensitive proprietary data by Rivos, return its property and award an undisclosed sum in damages.

“Apple has reason to believe that Rivos instructed at least some Apple employees to download and install apps for encrypted communications (e.g., the Signal app) before communicating with them further,” the complaint by Apple reads.

This is not the first time that Apple has sued its former employees. Last year it sued Gerrard Williams III and his colleagues, who founded Nuvia to develop datacenter SoCs with leading performance-per-watt characteristics. The dispute is set to go to trial in October, 2023. Nuvia was eventually sold to Qualcomm, the latter plans to use Nuvia’s CPU designs for it notebook SoCs and officially has no plans to develop datacenter processors.

Apple has begun testing new notebooks and desktops running its next-generation M2 system-on-chips (SoCs), according to developer logs. The company began testing some of these systems quite some time ago, but it is still unclear whether Apple plans to announce them at its upcoming WWDC conference in June and when exactly they are set to be launched. 

Apple is testing at least nine new Macs based on M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra SoCs, according to a Bloomberg report. Previous leaks indicated that the M2 family is largely based on Apple's A15 Bionic architectures, so the new report largely confirms this information and sheds some additional light on the specifications of the new processors. 

As it turns out, the new M2 will not get any increase in terms of core count, but will get a GPU with more clusters. The M2 Pro will gain two more energy-efficient cores, whereas the M2 Max will get more energy-efficient cores and a better GPU (see the table below for details). 

Comparison of Apple's SoCs (official and unofficial information)

Since the new SoCs will be made using TSMC's N5P fabrication technology, Apple could not tangibly increase CPU core and GPU cluster counts, so expect moderate performance uplifts from architectural improvements, some performance surges from the increased core/cluster counts, and some additional oomph from higher clocks. 

The list of M2-based systems that Apple is testing includes its new MacBook Air, entry-level MacBook Pro, 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and an all-new Mac Pro. Surprisingly, the list does not include any iMacs. Meanwhile, all these systems have their own launch schedules and windows and therefore will not likely be introduced at the same time.

Apple's rumored M2-based systems

For example, a revamped MacBook Air and probably Mac Mini are expected at WWDC in early June. The MacBook Air is expected to feature an all-new design, so showing it off at the upcoming conference will certainly attract a lot of attention to the event given how popular that model is. Meanwhile, the next-generation Mac Mini has already been listed in Apple Studio Display's firmware as MacMini 10.1 (the current is 9.1), which is a clear indicator that a new model is incoming, reports 9to5Mac. 

Since it takes some time for Apple to adopt its latest microarchitectures to Pro and Max SoCs, do not expect an M2 Pro or M2 Max-based MacBook Pro or Mac Mini to emerge for a while. A reasonable guess would be by the end of the year, but that's pure speculation. Assuming that M2 Max SoC is months off, the M2 Ultra will probably arrive at even later date, so do not expect the new Mac Pro to arrive any time soon.

Like most other companies, Apple does not comment on unreleased products, so we cannot verify whether the unofficial information is correct. But, WWDC is looming and this might be the conference where the company will share the first details about its M2-based PCs.

Hong Kong's Minisforum has launched the Elitemini B550. The firm announced the product on Twitter today, prepared an overview video, and published a pre-sale product page with a configurator – including US pricing. Minisforum sees two significant selling points to its AMD Ryzen powered NUC-alike. Firstly, it uses socketed AM4 processors, and secondly, buyers get an external GPU dock to use the best graphics cards. However, there are several more attractions and drawbacks.

The Minisforum Elitemini B550 is a small and easily portable PC compared to the Mac Mini and Intel NUC (and several others). It measures 20.859 x 24.088 x 12.813 cm (approximately 8.3 x 9.4 x 5 inches) according to the product pages. Still, the dimensions quoted in the product video are quite a bit smaller, a sizable sizing error.

The design of the Elitemini isn't very appealing, but it looks functional, with plenty of air vents and plenty of ports (all at the rear). One good way to hide it is via its VESA mount base, with screws provided.

The flexibility on offer lets you forgive the styling somewhat. You can buy this machine with your choice of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G or Ryzen 7 4700G (to save $100), both 8C/16T APUs from different generations. However, you won't be stuck with your choice, as this is a socketed AM4 CPU. You can change it later. Due to this, it is a little sad that the 'Barebone' option without RAM or SSD does not have a cheaper version without the processor.

Inside the case, you will have access to dual SODIMM slots for up to 64GB DDR4-3200 RAM, and there are twin M.2 2280 SATA/NVMe SSD slots. If you use a newer gen processor, you can use NVMe PCIe 4.0. The other user-upgradable component is a single 2.5 inch SATA SSD/HDD. A Wi-Fi and Bluetooth card is already on board, so you don’t have to worry about that.

Ports on the back of the Elitemini B550 include; RJ45 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Port × 1, USB3.2 Port × 4 (Gen2), USB-C Port × 1 (Gen2), HDMI (4K@60Hz) × 2, DisplayPort(4K@60Hz) × 1, 3.5mm Headphone Jack(Green), LINE OUT × 2, Clear CMOS × 1, 3.5mm MIC Jack × 1. So, that is triple displays without adding an external GPU. The power button is on the rear too.

Included in your Minisforum Elitemini B550 purchase is a somewhat minimal GPU dock. It doesn’t enclose the GPU you will have decided to fit. Depending on your choice of the graphics card, it might extend considerably past the dimensions of the host machine. If you don’t like this idea, choose a GPU that is 24cm or shorter.

If you choose to use the external GPU dock, you won’t be able to VESA mount the Minisforum Elitemini B550. In the pictures of the GPU attached, the desktop case is on its side, with the GPU extension effectively on its underside where its feet and mounting holes are.

The external GPU will not get power from the 19V power brick supplied with the Elitemini 500. It requires an external ATX or SFF power supply (not included). Having a PSU on the desk/table next to this system adds more unwanted clutter to your setup. A positive of adding the desktop power supply is that it should be able to support more powerful CPUs, but remember, the cooling system is only suitable for up to 65W.

On the surface, this sounds like a great alternative and highly portable mini system (it even comes with a carry case); however, making full use of its USPs adds a lot of bulk, mess, and clutter to your desktop. Perhaps an SFF PSU could somehow be bolted to the construction to make things neater. On the other hand, if you want a small system with a desktop graphics card, it might be better to get/build a Mini ITX system, and then everything will be neatly enclosed in a suitable stylish chassis.

Minisforum has pre-sale pricing for its Elitemini B550, starting from $499 for the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G model. Add $100 for the newer Ryzen 7 5700G and about $100 more for 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. Other configurations are available. Minisforum says systems will ship starting mid-May.

Being announced in early March, AMD's Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX processor promised to deliver unbeatable performance both in terms of single-thread and multi-thread workloads. But unfortunately, nobody has been able to confirm AMD's claims until now.

The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX is the flagship for the latest Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX-series that taps into AMD's potent Zen 3 cores. Zen 3 has been outstanding for AMD, bringing significant performance uplifts in desktop and mobile categories. The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX has 64 cores, 128 threads, and 256MB of L3 cache. It has a 2.7 GHz base clock but can boost it to 4.5 GHz. The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX also supports up to eight channels of DDR4-3200 memory and 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes.

Someone over at Reddit has spotted test results of the AMD's Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX in the PassMark database, where the device annihilates everything in sight. But, of course, an avid reader would know that PassMark measures pretty much every CPU capability, including integer, floating-point math, and things like compression, yet in a synthetic way.

The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX raked in 108,822 points in PassMark (yours truly's Mac Mini M1 hits 13,875). The processor outperformed the EPYC 7763, the previous 64-core record holder, by a 23% margin. Regarding generation-over-generation improvement, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX delivered 28% higher performance than the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3995WX, the part Zen 2 part that it's replacing.

Intel doesn't have a processor to compete against AMD's Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX. The only Intel chip on the PassMark database is the 40-core Xeon Platinum 8380. The 10nm processor is no match for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper parts. The Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX blew the Xeon Platinum 8380 out of the water with a 75% performance delta.

Being the fastest processor in a particular benchmark may not impress in general. Still, when you play in a workstation league where every core and penny counts, it makes sense to win such competitions. As a result, the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX-series is an excellent lineup for consumers that don't want to break the piggy bank for AMD's more expensive EPYC 7003-series (Milan) server chips.

Apple is reportedly working on two new system-on-chips for inexpensive and mainstream Macs. The new M2 and M2 Pro SoCs are said to be based on the A15 Bionic architecture and will therefore feature "Avalanche" and "Blizzard" cores as well as enhanced integrated GPU, according to a report.  As ever, rumors and leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Apple's new M2 SoC is said to be codenamed Staten and will feature four high-performance Avalanche cores, four energy-efficient Blizzard cores, and a 10-cluster integrated GPU, reports 9to5Mac citing its own sources. Meanwhile, the rumored M2 Pro chip is said to feature eight Avalanche cores, four Blizzard cores, and an up to 16-cluster GPU. Given the fact that Apple's A15 Bionic is made using TSMC's N5P fabrication process, it is likely that M2-series SoCs will be made using the same node.  

It is noteworthy that at this point Apple reportedly has no plans for M2 Max and M2 Ultra processors for higher-end PCs. This does not look improbable as Avalanche and Blizzard hardly bring significant general-purpose performance improvements compared to Firestorm and Icestorm cores used in M1 processors. 

Comparison of Apple's SoCs based on official and unofficial information

The new M2 SoC is believed to power Apple's new generation Mac Mini desktop PC (J473), whereas the M2 Pro will be the brain of a more powerful Mac Mini desktop (J474) that will sit between the entry-level Mac Mini and the entry-level Mac Studio desktop, so it will be priced accordingly. 

Keeping in mind that current M1 SoCs also power Apple's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13, it is logical to expect M2 and M2 Pro SoCs to eventually find a home inside laptops, yet the report does not state this directly. 

Apple will host its annual WWDC 2022 conference in May or June, where Bloomberg expects it to introduce new Macs based on Apple Silicon. That said, it is reasonable to expect Apple to introduce its M2 and M2 Pro SoCs as well as computers based on these chips at the event. 

In previous M2 rumors about M2 indicated that the SoCs will leverage architectures used by Apple's next-generation A16 Bionic application processor for smartphones and tablets, which means that the SoCs will be made using TSMC's N4 node. Other rumors seem to confirm that Apple's 2nd Generation M-series SoCs could arrive in 2022 and would be made using an enhanced version of TSMC's N5 node, which means N5P, N4, N4P.  

It is noteworthy that Apple is also said to be working on its M3 family of system-on-chips based on its all-new architectures and made using TSMC's next-generation N3 node. The line-up will include processors codenamed Ibiza, Lobos, and Palma, which probably means M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max SoCs for entry-level, performance, and high-performance systems.

A keen Apple modder has successfully converted an ageing Apple iMac G4 into a far more modern All-in-One featuring an M1 processor at its heart. The machine that was hollowed-out to receive the modern innards was an Apple iMac G4. On the other side of the hardware equation, modder Connor55 used the most obvious donor candidate for a compact motherboard featuring an Apple M1 chip, the 2021 Mac Mini. The concise build process was found via the MacRumors forum.

The aim of Connor55's conversion was to inject some life into an outdated. creaking, but iconic Apple iMac design. He challenged himself to turn this slow no Wi-Fi computer into a modern M1 powered marvel, while retaining all the outward appeal of the 2002 vintage machine. With the project done and dusted, the result was a snappy modern Mac, which looked unchanged from the twenty year old design.

Some acclaim must go to Connor55, who took special effort to make sure the following original features continued to function; the power button, the optical drive, plus the display with working backlight.

At this point it is worth mentioning that this isn't the first G4 to M1 hack. There was another in late 2021 and in March 2021 we saw a YouTuber gut a 2018 iMac and replace the innards with an M1 Mac Mini. However, this new feat is particularly useful for would-be modders, as it includes a quite comprehensive step through guide to how an Apple M1-powered iMac G4 lampshade model was converted from start to finish including, photos, videos, and textual information.

The Process

If you check out the linked post you will see the old iMac being disemboweled, and it is interesting to see the Apple custom parts that were designed and manufactured with curved edges for the dome-shaped chassis.

After hollowing out the old chassis the next tasks were to look at power supply plans, and work out a monitor signaling and backlight converter for the new motherboard. Then followed some planning of where the new modern ports would be positioned.

Starting the teardown of the Apple Silicon donor, the Mac Mini, Connor55 noted how empty the smallest product Mac's chassis is. That reminds us of another recent mod - creating a palm-sized Mac Mini. The modder subsequently commented that the Mac Mini's fully removed innards were "smaller than just the stock G4 HDD," which would help make the conversion less problematic.

Much More Modern Macs

For much more recent Apple Mac news, check out our coverage from yesterday's Peek Performance Event. Apple surprised pundits by launching the new Apple Mac Studio - like a tall Mac Mini with a very powerful new processor inside, the 20-core Apple M1 Ultra. We also reported on the first independent benchmarks of the M1 Ultra being posted and the eyebrow raising stats showing it nearly matches a 64-core AMD Threadripper 3990X.

Apple has announced its first Mac with its M1 Ultra, the Mac Studio. It's a small desktop that has design cues from the Mac Mini, but is taller and with more power. The M1 Max version will start at $1,999, while the M1 Ultra version will start at $3,999. Both will launch on March 18.

It has a 7.7-inch base and is 3.7 inches tall, allowing the new Mac to fit on your desk. The cooler has a double-sided blower and intakes air through a perforated aluminum base, over the parts and out of a rear exhaust.

"The sound is so minimal" that you'll "barely even hear it," an Apple spokesperson said during the announcement event.

On the rear, there are four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10GB Ethernet jack, a pair of USB Type-A ports, an HDMI output, and a pro audio jack for high impedance headphones. The front has an SD card reader and two more ports: USB Type-C ports when configured with an M1 Max, or more Thunderbolt 4 ports with M1 Ultra.

With M1 Max, you'll get up to 64GB of unified memory, while M1 Ultra configurations will get up to 128GB of memory, which Apple says should supercharge graphics performance. You get up to 8TB of SSD storage, though that will cost you.

Apple claims the M1 Studio can play 18 streams 8K ProRes 422 video, and the company says it's the only computer that can do so.

The Mac Studio can support up four of Apple's Pro Display XDR and a 4K TV, amounting to nearly 90 million pixels.

Apple claims that the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is 90% faster than a Mac Pro with a 16-core Intel Xeon processor and 60% faster than with a 28-core Xeon. With an M1 Max, Apple suggests it is 50% faster than the 16-core Xeon and 2.5 times faster than a iMac with an Intel Core i9, but notably didn't compare to the more powerful Mac Pro.

On the graphics side, Apple suggests the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is 4.5 times faster than a 27-inch iMac with an AMD Radeon RX 5700XT and 80% faster than a Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W6900X. The M1 Max version, the company says, is 3.5 times fater than the Radeon RX5700XT.

These performance numbers, while impressive, do need to be taken with a grain of salt, as the new desktops are being compared to very specific Apple products and not to the greater market.

Despite rumors of a new Mac Mini and a new Mac Laptop, neither were announced today, leaving this new desktop to soak all of the glory. It was announced alongside a new 27-inch, 5K Studio Display.

Although Apple's Mac computers are not exactly friendly to modification, this does not mean that they cannot be modded. It is not only possible, but as a new Mac Mini mod shows, it actually leads to impressive results. 

Being one of the first high-volume desktop PCs to use laptop parts, Mac Mini was among the smallest desktop machines when it was introduced in 2005. Over time, it got a little more compact, but for over ten years the design has remained largely the same. With emergence of Intel's NUC and even tinier systems, Apple's Mac Mini in its current form-factor launched in 2011 does not look that neat anymore. Yet, given a compact footprint of Mac Mini M1's motherboard, it is possible to make this PC tiny, and the Snazzy Labs team of modders has found out (via Liliputing).

Apple's M1 system-on-chip (SoC) allowed a significantly reduced footprint, complexity, and power consumption for Mac Mini compared to the previous Intel-based Mac Mini. But what the latest Mac Mini did not do was shrink the size of its cooling system, wattage and dimensions of its 150W built-in power supply, and consequently the size of its chassis. 

Enthusiasts from Snazzy Labs managed to carefully unsolder antennas and power button from the chassis, and all of that effort was rewarded with a highly-integrated motherboard with all wired and wireless input/output interfaces attached. The modders 3D printed a specially designed chassis that is 78% smaller than the original one (the guide how to do it has been published). That chassis is fanless though. 

Apparently, the biggest problem for the engineers was to find a proper power supply. A 150W PSU is obviously an overkill for a system that merely consumes over 68W under load even when all I/O ports are used. Therefore, Snazzy Labs had to design an appropriate PSU themselves using a 65W Microsoft Surface power adapter, a MacBook Pro MagSafe 2 DC-IN power board, and a MagSafe 2 cable. 

There are some catches with Snazzy Labs' mod. First up, this system is passively cooled and will inevitably throttle under high loads. Of course, it is possible to 3D print an appropriate chassis with a fan. Secondly, there are a lot of chassis (rack mounted or desk mounted) for Apple's Mac Mini, so making the system smaller may not make a lot of sense. Nonetheless, the mod demonstrates that it is possible to make the current Mac Mini considerably smaller, albeit with some compromises. 

Apple has announced its first hardware event of the year, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8. The event comes with a provocative name - "Peek Performance." 

Apple's invite is, as usual, vague about what to expect. We think the best clue comes from the name; Apple has been gaining an enviable reputation in the field of personal computers of late, particularly with the performance of its M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max Apple Silicon SoCs. An M2 chip has been rumored, and may be possible at the event.

One other clue from the announcement imagery is the use of the range of colorful logos, which might signify the arrival of a colorful range of iPhones, iPads or iMacs.

Additionally, Greg Joswiak, Apple's SVP of Marketing, shared an animated version of the invite, which kind of looks like the back of a large curved screen with Apple's logo in those same colors.

There have been many rumors about upcoming products in a potential Apple announcement. In a recent article regarding and EEC listing of three Mac computers, we noted that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reckoned there would be at least one new Mac on March 8, probably a new version of the Mac Mini. Apart from that, Gurman didn't go into what other Macs to expect but he did tip the appearance of a new iPhone SE and iPad Air.

There have, however, been other Mac clues. MacRumors has claimed that Apple will release an M2 chip in a 13-inch MacBook Pro with the existing chassis.  However, some previous industry news we have seen points indicated March is a few months too early for such an unveiling.   

We think one of the other likely Macs due to be updated is the larger 27-inch iMac, which is still listed with Intel inside, so it is very much due an update. The 24-inch models got an M1 under the hood and a colorful range of purchase options nearly a year ago, so this could be rinse and repeat for the bigger brother. Since it is a bigger computer, and it is so much later, the 27-inch iMac would be a good candidate to debut the highly anticipated M2 chip, though it could also potentially see the M1 Pro or M1 Max.

The only way to know for sure?  To tune in on March 8, when Tom's Hardware will be covering any computer news out of the event.